I first went to Thailand in 1997 and immediately fell in love with the country. Thailand at that time to me was mysterious and exotic, full of potentials and pitfalls.
Fast forward to 2010 and here I am after 13 years and many trips to the LOS sharing, with the help of my 
H5N1 Bird Flu Re-Emerges in Thailand
This is bad news for Thailand. Last time the bird flu was found there it had a significant impact on tourism to the country. Considering the current strength of the Thai baht which is already curbing tourism combined with the anti-foreign business climate brought on after last years coup, this could cause a definite drop in Thailand’s GDP for 2008.
Let’s hope that this is an isolated case not only for Thailand’s tourism, but also because of the very deadly nature of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Most of us know that avian flu is being watched very closely, but do we know why. The reason is that this particular virus has mutated in the past and was extremely deadly. During the period of 1918-1920 the virus mutated and caused the Spanish flu which was responsible for 50 million deaths worldwide. Those interested can learn more here
Source: Reuters – 24 January 2008 The H5N1 bird flu virus has re-emerged in a northern Thai province for the first time since March last year, forcing the slaughter of 10,000 chickens, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Thursday.
The outbreak occurred on a farm in Nakhon Sawan, 240 km (149 miles) north of Bangkok, where the owner reported 4,085 chickens had died earlier this month, senior Livestock Department official Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk told Reuters.
“The H5N1 virus was found on the farm and we have culled the rest of them,” he said of the birds slaughtered in one of four closed chicken houses on the farm.
The others house 45,000 chickens which had shown no signs of the deadly avian influenza virus, he said.
The virus last reappeared in northern Thailand in March 2007, but there have been no new reports of human infections in the country, where the virus has killed 17 people since 2003.
Of the 351 human cases recorded since H5N1 re-emerged in Asia in 2003 and spread to parts of Africa and the Middle East, 219 have died, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The virus does not currently spread easily between humans, but scientists fear it could mutate into a form that would trigger a global pandemic, killing millions of people.
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