chickens at a poultry farm

Thailand has requested permission from Laotian authorities to gather information about the first case of bird flu human infection in Laos.   The 15 year-old girl who was confirmed by WHO and Lao officials as infected by a strain of bird flu virus is hospitalized in Nongkhai, Thailand.

The girl who lives outside Vientiane, the capital of Laos, fell ill in mid-February with Avian flu symtoms and was transferred to a hospital in Nongkhai two days later. WHO officials are not certain that the virus she has contracted is the deadly H5N1. The girl has reportedly not been in contact with any birds.

Lao officials say, since mid-February, almost 2,000 chickens have been culled in order to prevent further bird flu outbreaks, and over 13,000 infected duck eggs have been destroyed.

Since the first outbreak in 2004, bird flu hascaused financial losses of over six billion Kips to Laos' economy, with scores of poultry farms shut down.

Listen to our Laos Today for more details.