at least in our part of the world -- healthier than people were in 1918," chief public health officer David Butler-Jones told a news conference. "The challenges lie in the rapidity of travel and ability of diseases to move quickly around the world..." he said. Major drug companies have drawn up plans to produce large quantities of vaccine as soon as possible after any mutation of the virus into a form that moves easily between humans. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told a news conference the latest human death was in Kanchanaburi province, which reported new outbreaks of avian influenza this week. "The guy was infected with bird flu because he took a sick chicken, slaughtered it and then ate it," Thaksin said. Contact with infected chickens or ducks is a known method of transmission. --more 2238 Local Time 1938 GMT
