A flap but no bird ‘flu

PHUKET: The Chief of Phuket Provincial Health Office confirmed today that a hospital patient originally suspected of having bird ‘flu had been allowed to go home after doctors found he was free of the disease. Virat Hongsib-paed, 33, a garbage man employed in Kamala, was admitted to the Mission Hospital Phuket on Friday after feeling ill for several days. Concern about bird ‘flu arose because the patient, who had trouble breathing, told doctors that he had a waddle of ducks at home and that some of them had died in recent weeks. Dr Wanchai Sattayawuthipong, Chief of Phuket Provincial Health Office, told the Gazette today that K Virat was allowed to leave the hospital this morning after treatment for what turned out to be conventional pneumonia. “He felt better yesterday afternoon and I went to visit him last night at the hospital,” Dr Wanchai said. The Phuket Provincial Livestock Office (PPLO) checked K. Virat’s ducks and found that they were suffering from an intestinal ailment. “We can confirm that we have no avian ‘flu on Phuket, in either people or birds,” Dr Wanchai added.