December 17, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand confirmed Thursday its first case of a pig infected with swine flu spread from humans, senior officials said.
Agriculture minister Thira Wongsamut said that one of 80 pigs in a sample group tested for the virus at Kasertsart University farm in the central province of Sara Buri had contracted A(H1N1) influenza.
"It was only in one sample that we found the A(H1N1)," Thira said.
The ministry has quarantined a five kilometre-radius around the farm, where university research is carried out, as a precautionary measure, he said, adding that new health checks would be conducted at the farm every three days.
The ministry's permanent secretary Yukol Limlamthong said that none of the 132 workers at the university farm had contracted swine flu. He could not confirm if a research student had brought the virus in.
"We can not prove that, but the test results show the pig contracted the virus from a human," Yukol said.
Thira said that eating pork did not pose a danger.
"The virus spread from human to pigs, as in several countries. We've had no case of it spreading from pigs to humans," he said.
Since the swine flu outbreak began in April, the ministry said it has tested more than 26,000 pigs for the virus.
It has confirmed 29,741 human cases of the flu and 190 of those were fatal.
The Thai government has a one-million dollar fund set aside to combat swine flu.
