Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra urged Thais not to panic after a resurgence of the deadliest strain of bird flu killed a 13th person in the kingdom -- the first this year.

Avian flu has the ability to pass from bird to bird. There is no evidence that the virus has mutated into a form allowing it to pass from person to person, David Nabarro, the United Nations coordinator for avian influenza said on Oct. 11. Indonesia's health minister today warned of the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the virus after a father and son were suspected of having contracted bird flu, Agence France-Presse reported.

In an avian influenza report distributed to U.S. citizens living in Vietnam, the U.S. Embassy cited possible human-to- human infections in Hong Kong in 1997, in the Netherlands in 2003, and in Thailand in 2004.

Fears that the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, already capable of jumping to humans from fowl, will mutate into a form easily transmissible between people has spurred governments to stockpile vaccines and anti-viral drugs, to prevent a pandemic which could threaten millions of lives.

Russia, Turkey and Romania confirmed outbreaks in poultry, heightening fears of the illness in Europe. Bird flu has killed a confirmed 60 people in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia since 2004, according to World Health Organization figures.

In the new case in Thailand, the man's child has a fever and has been sent to Bangkok for tests, Thaksin said. The man, who died early on Oct. 19, lived in Panuamthuan district of Kanchanaburi, 150 kilometers (94 miles) west of Bangkok.

Thailand, where 12 people died of bird flu last year, is forecast to be Asia's biggest chicken meat exporter this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, selling 270,000 metric tons overseas. Thailand exports cooked chicken products since its two biggest export markets, Japan and the European Union, banned raw poultry from the kingdom when it first confirmed bird flu in January 2004.

The EU this month extended its ban for a further 12 months, along with import restrictions on 10 other Asian nations where bird flu has been detected.

William L. Aldis, the WHO representative in Thailand, was not immediately able to answer questions as he was speaking to Thailand's health ministry, his assistant said. Thai health authorities confirmed the death in a press conference shortly after Thaksin's announcement. No age was given for the dead man, or an age or sex of the child. The Nation newspaper yesterday reported the man was 48 and his male child is 7.

Local news reports earlier said the man died because of a lung infection. The bird flu virus is still active in four central provinces of Suphan Buri, Kamphaeng Phet, Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Pathom, the Department of Livestock said on its Web site. Dead and sick chickens collected between Oct. 5 and Oct. 12 in some districts of the four provinces were found to be infected with avian influenza, the Web site said. The department culled 26,355 poultry in the infected area in that period.

Thai authorities detected the H5N1 strain in migratory birds such as sparrows, pigeons and mynas during sampling between June and October this year, the Nation newspaper reported Oct. 18.

In Indonesia, a man and his son were admitted to hospital yesterday on suspicion of having contracted the virus, AFP cited Ilham Patu, a doctor at the Sulianti Saroso hospital for infectious diseases in Jakarta, as saying.

This is cache, read story here