A 58-year-old man has died from bird flu, the third death case of human infected bird flu in Thailand, the state-run FM 100.5 radio station reported Monday.

Charal Trinwuthipong, director-general of the Disease Control Department of the Public Health Ministry, did not say when the patient died or when the autopsy was performed.

Charal confirmed that an unidentified 58-year-old man from central Suphanburi province, who died earlier, was tested positive to the virus after an autopsy.

The victim is the fourth confirmed human case of bird flu in Thailand, Charal said, adding that two Thai children died from the disease last week and a third child who was the first confirmed patient is hospitalized.

A total of 12 people, including three in Thailand and nine in Vietnam, have died from the disease so far.

Charal also noted that Thailand has registered 18 suspected bird flu infection cases so far.

Meanwhile, Thai government spokesman Chakrapob Penkaur said Monday morning that chickens infected with bird flu have been detected in Petchaburi province, 105 km southwest of Bangkok, and the province was declared as the latest bird flu control zone.

After 22 provinces were downgraded from epidemic control zone to monitor zone Sunday, 12 provinces among Thailand's 76 provinces are still on the list of "red" outbreak provinces.

In the control zone chickens must be culled within a five-kilometer radius of where the virus was found and chickens may not be moved outside a 50-kilometer radius. Till now, 25.9 million chickens have been slaughtered, said the spokesman.

Thailand's poultry industry, the world's fourth largest, has suffered from the bird flu outbreak. The European Union, Japan and other major markets have banned Thai chicken products.

Thailand exported about 500,000 tons of chicken worth 52 billion baht (US$1.3 billion) in 2003. Thai government promised to control the outbreak within this month. 

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2004)