Asia's bird flu death toll hits 20

Thailand's latest victim, the second in a week, was a 13-year-old boy from northeastern Chaiyaphum province who had fallen ill after burying chickens that had died at his home, an official said.

The boy died Saturday evening, after being hospitalized late last month and diagnosed with the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Thursday.

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"His condition did not improve after weeks at hospital, and it worsened Saturday until doctors could no longer help him," Visit Tangnapakorn, director of Chaiyaphum's provincial health authority, told AFP Sunday.

"He had chickens at home, and they died in late January and the boy was the one who buried them," he said. "The contact with those chickens was the reason he got sick."