Three French tourists suspected of catching bird flu during a trip to Thailand have tested negative for the deadly H5N1 virus, the Thai Health Ministry said on Friday, quoting unnamed French officials. “The final lab results have confirmed that they had human flu of the H3N2 type,” Thawat Suntarjarn, head of the Department of Disease Control, said in a statement.
“We have urged the French health ministry to make these results official in order to restore confidence, especially in the tourism industry,” he said.
French authorities said on Wednesday three people from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion who visited a bird park in Thailand earlier this month might have caught the virus.
France’s health minister said on Thursday tests on one of the three showed he was not infected with the potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu strain.