BANGKOK, March 19 (Reuters) - The H5N1 bird flu virus has reappeared in a northeastern Thai province, the country's fourth outbreak this year, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Monday. The latest outbreak was confirmed at a government training centre near the border with Laos, which has also reported outbreaks recently, Department of Livestock director Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk told Reuters. "The lab test result yesterday has confirmed that the virus found in the centre was the deadly H5N1 and we have already got rid of all of them," he said, referring to fowl at the centre. After a six-month lull, the virus reappeared in north and northeastern Thailand in January and in the central area last month. There have been no new reports of human infections in the country, where the virus has killed 17 people since it re-emerged in Asia in 2003. The World Health Organisation says the virus has infected at least 277 people in 12 countries since 2003 and killed at least 168 of them. There are fears that millions could die if the virus were to mutate into a form that passed easily from person to person.
