Asia's bird flu epidemic, which experts fear could spawn a human pandemic, has claimed its 31st victim, a nine-year-old Thai girl who had contact with infected chickens at home.
She died on Sunday night, soon after being confirmed as having the H5N1 bird flu virus nearly a month after falling ill, Health Ministry spokeswoman Nitaya Chanruang Mahabhol told Reuters.
"The girl was in poor condition before being sent to the hospital," Nitaya said on Monday of the 11th Thai to die of bird flu since the virus swept through much of Asia early this year. It has also killed 20 Vietnamese.
The government, spurred into a frenzy of action by Thailand's first probable human-to-human transmission of the virus last week, is determined no one else will linger untested and untreated for so long.