The authorities in Thailand seized more than 100 bottles of avian influenza vaccine on Sunday to implement the government's ban on use of the poultry disease vaccine, local press reported on Monday.

The vials were found out in chiller cabinets in two poultry shops when some 50 police and Health Ministry officials raided a weekend market in a bid to crack down selling of bird flu vaccine.

The Thai government on Aug. 6 declared a ban on any use, selling and import of the fowl disease vaccine, citing the safety of poultry and human beings as concerns.

The shop owners "face up to three years in jail and a maximum fine of 60,000 baht (about 1,428.57 US dollars)" Deputy Public Health Minister Anuthin Chanveerakul was quoted by newspaper The Nation as saying.

"The vaccine may save infected chickens' lives, but these chickens will carry the disease, which can then be passed on to farmers and consumers," said Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyurapan.

The minister said her ministry would soon distribute documents to farmers explaining the adverse effects of the bird-flu vaccine so as to discourage them from buying the illicit drug.

The kingdom has suffered two waves of bird flu attacks starting in February and July respectively, which left eight people dying of the disease.

The epidemic also caused great damage to Thailand's poultry industry, which suffered no less than 880 million US dollars loss in the first outbreak of bird flu lasting from February to May.

Source: Xinhua