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The UN and leading Thai authorities on AIDS urged Thailand to put AIDS back on the political radar screen. They also urged revising prevention messages because old approaches may no longer work among a new generation

The Thai government has cut its AIDS prevention budget by nearly two-thirds since 1997 and now adequate prevention services are reaching less than 5 percent of the teenagers and young adults, [Hakan Bjorkman] said. He also said that condom use was falling among young Thais because they have little or no perception of risk of HIV and consider AIDS a disease of the past. 'Thailand is in a danger zone, threatened by a new wave of the epidemic, and if Thailand's success turns into failure, the world will lose a guiding light and that will have great implications for the global response to HIV,' Bjorkman said. 'Time is not on our side.' The United Nations and leading Thai AIDS experts are urging Thailand to put AIDS back on the political radar screen. The experts also are urging Thailand to consider revising its prevention messages, noting that the original approaches may no longer be effective with a new generation

Even before China, Thailand and Vietnam reported new outbreaks in chickens in the last few days, governments in bigger and more affluent countries were preparing for a possible pandemic among humans. The United States and European nations have been negotiating to buy stockpiles of Tamiflu, the only drug believed effective for people infected with the A(H5N1) strain of bird flu, and they have been racing to develop an effective vaccine. China is negotiating to buy its own supply of Tamiflu, a senior Chinese health official said in an interview. Taiwan has already bought a large stockpile of Tamiflu, and is seeking to buy more and to set up its own production facilities. In Japan, the Health Ministry is also trying to arrange for domestic production of Tamiflu, which is now made at a single factory in Europe by the drug company Roche Holding. Health experts say that these preparations may not go far enough. Tamiflu, an antiviral, is only effective if given in the first two days after the onset of infection. Since many people with little more than the sniffles would take Tamiflu before it became clear they did not actually have bird flu, the amount of Tamiflu needed in a health emergency could be enormous, said Dr. Roy Anderson, an epidemiologist at the University of London. Tamiflu is a fairly new drug, still under patent and very costly. Its typical retail cost in the United States is $68 for a 10-capsule treatment to be taken over five days. Although Roche sells it for less at wholesale, it is expensive to stockpile and difficult to manufacture

The United Nations called the report ''a frank assessment'' of Thailand's situation and said that the report should sound an alarm and spur discussion of the issue at the 15th International AIDS Conference, which opens here on Sunday. The meeting is expected to draw at least 15,000 scientists, health workers, political leaders and advocates. Health officials have long praised Thailand for preventing millions from becoming infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, by acting decisively early in the epidemic. The Thai government has cut its AIDS prevention budget by nearly two-thirds since 1997. Now adequate prevention services are reaching fewer than 5 percent of teenagers and adults too young to remember the heyday of the AIDS epidemic, Mr. [Hakan Bjorkman] said. He also said that condom use was falling among young, sexually active Thais because they considered AIDS a disease of the past and had little or no perception of the risk of H.I.V. Public awareness campaigns have all but faded from view. The United Nations and leading Thai authorities on AIDS urged Thailand to put AIDS back on the political radar screen. The authorities also urged Thailand to consider revising its prevention messages because some old approaches may no longer work among a new generation

AIDS advocates and health officials have called for wider availability of lower-cost generic anti-HIV drugs to treat the world's 38 million infected people. Many Asian manufacturers are rushing to introduce generic drugs in advance of regulations that could affect the sale of the drugs, the report said. [Joep Lange] said the percentage of infected Thai people receiving anti- retroviral treatment was 'strikingly low.' Thailand has one of Asia's most sophisticated health care systems but only 100 doctors trained to treat AIDS or about one doctor for every 6,700 HIV- infected patients, the report said. Although Thailand has been a leader in preventing HIV, health officials fear that complacency is leading to a new wave of the epidemic. [Kevin Robert Frost] said that he began the study in the spring after observing a spurt in the availability of generics that had escaped the attention of most AIDS experts and health officials. A former AIDS advocate who worked on AIDS research at New York University, Frost said he had based the report on consultations with top health care officials in 15 Asian countries and interviews with dozens of officials in government, pharmaceutical companies and AIDS organizations. Treat Asia's warning follows by a day a report from the United Nations that said that the incidence of HIV in Asia had risen by 2003 to the point where the continent now accounts for one in four of the world's new HIV infections

A World Health Organization official said that the agency was investigating an unconfirmed media report that a person had died of so-called bird flu in Vietnam's Mekong Delta recently and was also investigating unconfirmed reports that birds may be dying of the disease in Indonesia. Hans Wagner, the senior animal production and health officer in Southeast Asia for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said he was not aware of any human cases, or of any bird cases outside of Vietnam, Thailand and China

A World Health Organization official said that the agency was investigating an unconfirmed media report that a person died of so- called bird flu in Vietnam's Mekong delta recently, and was also investigating unconfirmed reports that birds may be dying of the disease in Indonesia. Hans Wagner, the senior animal production and health officer in Southeast Asia for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said he was not aware of any human cases, or of any bird cases outside of Vietnam, Thailand and China. Thai officials confirmed on Wednesday that they had found infected birds on two farms, located in Ayutthaya and Prathumthani provinces in central Thailand. In China, officials said they had found a single infected bird near Chaohu Lake in Anhui Province, 420 kilometers, or 260 miles, northwest of Shanghai. Vietnam has been killing all chickens near infected birds. In Thailand, the Agriculture Ministry said that it had ordered the culling of all chickens found within five kilometers of the infected chickens

Anti-H.I.V. drugs can vary in purity, potency and the way chemicals are combined. Without adequate quality control and careful supervision of care, the authorities say, the medications may be ineffective or create imbalances that pave the way for the virus to mutate, developing resistance. Two of the 27 manufacturers are in Thailand, where an estimated 84,000 people are not receiving antiretroviral treatment. But the Thai government has exported $3 million of H.I.V. drugs, the report said. Dr. [Joep Lange], the International AIDS Society president, said the percentage of infected Thai people receiving antiretroviral treatment was ''strikingly low.'' Thailand has one of Asia's most sophisticated health care systems, but only 100 doctors trained to treat AIDS, or about one doctor for every 6,700 H.I.V.-infected patients, the report said. Although Thailand has been a leader in preventing H.I.V., health officials fear that complacency is leading to a new wave of the epidemic. Treat Asia's warning follows by a day a report from the United Nations that said that the incidence of H.I.V. in Asia in 2003 rose to the point where the continent now accounted for one in four of the world's new H.I.V. infections

In the past week, China, Thailand and Vietnam have all found chickens that have died of the A (H5N1) strain of avian influenza virus, and have begun killing thousands of birds in the hope of preventing the virus from evolving into a form that passes easily among humans. Influenza viruses are found primarily in birds. Scientists have been surprised at cases in which the A (H5N1) strain of the avian virus has passed directly from birds to people because bird flu viruses were previously believed to require mixing with human virus strains in certain animals, like pigs, before acquiring the ability to infect people. A health worker burns slaughtered chickens in Chaohu, China, in the Anhui Province, after an outbreak of avian influenza in the area. In the past week, China, Thailand and Vietnam have found cases of the virus. (Photo by Reuters)

The United Nations updates the state of AIDS in the world every two years in advance of the International AIDS Conference. The 15th conference opens here on Sunday. Many health officials have repeatedly warned that Asia faces an H.I.V. epidemic that could rival Africa's. This infant at the Phyathai Babies' Home, an orphanage in Bangkok, is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or H.I.V. Of 400 children at the orphanage, 57 are H.I.V. positive. (Photo by Reuters) Young people from 15 to 24 account for half of new H.I.V. infections, more than 6,000 a day. Surveys of young women in regions with high H.I.V. rates found most lacked a basic understanding of the disease. Percentage of women from 15 to 24 with comprehensive AIDS and H.I.V. knowledge: