BANGKOK, Nov 7 (TNA) - Three more patients in Thailand are suspected of having contracted bird flu.

The three people, all from the northern province of Phichit, have been admitted to the bird flu monitoring centre at Phichit hospital as they had all been in close contact with domestic chickens which had died from unknown causes.

The three suspected victims are a one-year-old girl, a six-year-old boy and a 52-year-old man. Earlier, a 73-year-old man had been admitted to the Pichit hospital suspected of suffering from bird flu.

The new suspected cases of bird flu follow the government抯 announcement on Friday that avian flu had been successfully eliminated in the six Thai provinces including Bangkok, all of which had been hit by the outbreak a few months ago.

There have been no new cases of bird flu reported in these provinces for several weeks.

The six provinces have been bird-flu free for more than a month, according to inspections and 磝-rays?carried out by government officials during October, the Director of the government´s Command Centre for Bird Flu, Dr. Charal Trinvuthipong told TNA .

However, the thorough inspections also found more areas affected by avian
flu in 10 provinces including Phichit which have already been ridden by
avian flu.

The inspections also found that bird flu-affected areas had shrunk in nine provinces in the past month. These include Nonthaburi and Pathum Thani Provinces on the outskirts of Bangkok.