BANGKOK, Jan 23: A Thai man suspected of having bird flu has died in hospital, his doctor said on Friday, adding that tests were underway to determine whether he was infected with the disease which is sweeping Asia.

If confirmed, the death of 56-year-old Boonson Nitikarn would be the first fatality from the virus outside Vietnam, where it has claimed five victims and is suspected to have infected another 17 people.

Virat Pokaratsiri from Chachoengsao provincial hospital east of Bangkok said Boonson died Friday from circulatory failure and severe pneumonia. "He was one of the three suspected cases listed (by the government)," Virat said. "His blood samples have already been sent for clinical testing in Bangkok but the results have not yet been returned."

Virat said Boonson was hospitalised on Tuesday with a high fever and diarrhea and that X-rays found he also had pneumonia. Boonson's neighbour Sarawut Charoenporn said the victim had raised fighting cocks, a common pasttime in Thailand where the birds do battle with each other as a form of entertainment.

"Two to three days ago we learned that his fighting cocks had died and that he had butchered them before falling ill," he said. Sarawut said he had been ordered to cull some 90,000 chickens on his own farm in the province, which is one of 16 affected by an epidemic that the government had until now insisted was only fowl cholera.

Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said that bird flu had been detected in two boys from provinces west of Bangkok and that three other people were being tested, with the results due in several days.-AFP