Guest guest Posted May 18, 2001 Report Share Posted May 18, 2001 South China Morning Post. Thursday, May 17, 2001 http://www.scmp.com More chicken slaughters possible: Yam by NIKI LAW and ASSOCIATED PRESS As poultry sales plummeted on Thursday, the Government said that more chickens may be slaughtered at Wong Tai Sin food market if a suspected outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus is confirmed to have spread there. The death of 70 or more chickens at the Tai Shing Street food market in the morning has raised fears that the number of infected birds may have spread far beyond the three food markets that the Government closed on Wednesday. This followed the slaughter of more than 6,600 birds in an effort to contain the virus, which the Government says is different from the strain of H5N1 that killed six people and led to the culling of 1.4 million chickens in 1997/8. Although Secretary for Environment and Food Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying said that there was no cause for concern, she did not rule out the possibility of further slaughters. ''If the findings show the samples are infected with the virus ... I will not rule out the possibility of further action,'' Mrs Yam said. The decision to kill the birds yesterday was made after researchers found, last Friday, that the H5N1 virus strain infecting the chickens was undergoing serious genetic sequence rearrangement. Advisory Council on Food and Environmental Hygiene (ACFEH) member Yuen Kwok-yung said that if the strain continues to mutate the risk of the virus becoming strong enough to affect human beings was a possibility, though this would take some time to develop. He denied that the virus presently posed a health risk to humans saying: ''The present H5N1 virus is totally different from the strain that broke out in 1997. ''It's rearrangement is not sufficient enough to affect human beings.'' Yet Dr Yuen was unable to provide any specific details as to how long it would require for the virus to become dangerous. Chairman of the ACFEH Daniel Tse Chi-wai reassured: ''For the time being it is not a health threat to the public but we must keep a watch on its development.'' Chicken stall owners said business has slumped by half or more since yesterday and the Government said wholesale poultry prices have dropped by nearly 20 per cent compared to Wednesday. The day's leftover stock of unsold birds has jumped threefold to 19,000, from 5,000 on Wednesday. ''Of course we've been hard hit,'' sighed chicken dealer Cheung Yim-king. ''It's such a sensitive period that fewer people are coming to the market, not to mention buying anything.'' Another vendor, who only gave his surname as Chung, lamented that business has fallen by about 80 per cent. The Government said it acted quickly after 797 birds were apparently killed by the flu. Many shoppers remained cautious, saying they would stop eating chickens in coming weeks. ''I won't buy chickens for the time being,'' said Wong Wan-ying, 50, who has two sons. A Filipino live-in maid, Domelyn Basingan, 32, said her employer told her not to buy any chicken. ''She told me to buy fish and vegetables instead,'' Ms Basingan said. Cheung Tung-ying, 50, was one of the few exceptions who bought a chicken to cook for her daughter. Ms Cheung said she was confident in the bird's nutritional value. ''I am afraid too, but my daughter has just given birth to her first baby and needs more nutrients,'' Ms Cheung said. ''I'll cook it more thoroughly than usual.'' ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thursday, May 17, 2001 Officials attacked for two-week 'cover-up' by PATSY MOY Officials were attacked yesterday for " covering up " the presence of the H5N1 virus over the past two weeks, with thousands of chickens being sold before the government cull began. Democratic Party legislator Fred Li Wah-ming, who is chairman of the food safety and environmental hygiene panel, said he would call an urgent meeting on Monday to press officials to explain why earlier action was not taken, such as suspending chicken sales before the laboratory result was confirmed. Tommy Cheung Yu-yan, of the Liberal Party, said he would urge the Government to trace the source of the virus and review whether there were loopholes in cross-border controls on imported chickens. Secretary for Environment and Food Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying defended the government decision, saying the killing was only a preventative measure where the Government needed to have sufficient grounds and reason to justify the action. However, Democratic legislator Albert Ho Chun-yan and Cyd Ho Sau-lan, of The Frontier, said officials had a duty to inform and warn the public once the deadly virus was detected. Mr Ho said: " They [officials] should not use avoiding public fears as an excuse to keep the community in the dark. As members of the public, we should have the right to know the truth, which is also public information, as early as possible. " Ms Ho said the drastic move of killing 6,608 chickens had caused " a bigger unnecessary panic " to the community. " Even though the Government claimed the virus would not affect humans, I am sure many people would choose not to eat poultry after seeing the massive killing of chickens on TV, " she said. " Everyone, including families, restaurants and poultry vendors, could be better prepared if the Government was willing to disclose the information earlier. " Some chicken vendors claimed they became suspicious after seeing officers sterilise markets on Tuesday night. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thursday, May 17, 2001 Bird flu outbreak strikes markets More than 6,000 chickens slaughtered and poultry stalls closed in bid to contain H5N1 virus by MARY ANN BENITEZ More than 6,000 chickens were slaughtered and poultry stalls at three markets closed yesterday as the authorities moved to prevent a repeat of the deadly bird flu outbreak of 1997. The government action was prompted by the deaths of 797 chickens - between Tuesday and midday yesterday - at three markets. This is the first time in four years that so many chickens have died from the H5N1 virus. Television reports last night said chickens were also dying at a Cheung Sha Wan market but this could not be confirmed. Secretary for Environment and Food Lily Yam Kwan Pui-ying urged people not to panic. She said gene tests showed that the goose-type H5N1 virus strain would not affect humans as it was a different strain to that which killed six people in 1997. " Nonetheless, we feel that it is essential for us to take precautionary measures, " Mrs Yam said, noting that flu viruses had a tendency to mix with each other to mutate into a deadly strain that could affect humans, as happened in 1997. " I have to reiterate that there is no cause for public concern at this stage. This is a precautionary measure. The indication is there is no evidence that these viruses can affect human beings. Of course, the public is reminded to observe the usual hygiene standards. " The Government took the drastic step of slaughtering 1.4 million chickens in December 1997, weeks after 18 people fell ill and six months after the first case of bird flu affecting a human was reported. Scientists later acknowledged that the move stopped a potential flu pandemic. There have been two further scares since then, but yesterday's saw the first signs that the bird flu could resurface. In October last year, poultry at a Ngau Tam Mei chicken farm in Yuen Long was found to be carrying antibodies to the virus H5. In February virologists discovered an H5N1 family virus in a retail market in Western, the first since the 1997 outbreak. In both instances no chickens died. Acting Director of Health Dr Paul Saw Thian-aun said people should know the newly discovered H5N1 strain and the 1997 strain were different. " The gene sequencing shows this is a totally different virus from 1997. As far as this virus goes and based on what we know, it does not affect man, " he said. The source of the infected poultry was still being traced last night and Hong Kong was liaising with mainland authorities. However, traders reacted angrily to the cull, saying they would lose out financially and complaining that they should have been told earlier in the day. They said the price of chickens would drop by at least 50 per cent today and they would meet officials tomorrow for talks on how to increase hygiene control. A total of 6,608 chickens had been slaughtered by last night at 37 poultry stalls at Yeung Uk Road market in Tsuen Wan, Fa Yuen Street in Mongkok and Smithfield Road in Kennedy Town. They will remain closed for up to three weeks to be cleansed and disinfected. The destroyed birds were sent to a landfill. Eighty-five stall workers and owners were being monitored for flu-like symptoms. The Government said it would compensate stall owners with $34 for each chicken slaughtered, the granting of a one-off lump sum payment of up to $24,000 and a waiver of rentals. Dr Leslie Sims, assistant director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, said the new H5N1 strain was first detected by University of Hong Kong virologists in early May in chickens at local markets. It is a " re-assorted " strain of the Goose 96-type H5N1 strain detected on February 22 this year at Shek Tong Tsui market in Western. But environment and food chief Mrs Yam said government action to slaughter the chickens was not taken until yesterday when 763 chickens died at Yeung Uk Road market. The Government had to strike a balance between ridding the markets of the virus and the impact of such moves on stall owners, she said. She said the incident proved that the SAR had " one of the best surveillance systems " involving import controls on birds and ensuring hygienic conditions in markets. " The public can rest assured that this surveillance system will enable us to detect any problems as soon as they arise, " she said. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thursday, May 17, 2001 Ghosts from the past haunt flu experts Fear of modern-day pandemic has biologists scrambling desperately to contain new outbreaks of chilling disease by JO BOWMAN It is the ghosts of 1918 who make Hong Kong's bird flu outbreaks so chilling for disease experts today. Twenty million people died suddenly that year when an unusual and particularly cruel influenza A virus broke out simultaneously across the world. " Spanish flu " whipped around the world in four months, felling the young and strong as readily as it struck those normally at risk of infection. Its symptoms were not coughs and sneezes - victims' bodies were bloody and they drowned as fluid filled their lungs. They were often dead within a week. It is the fear of another pandemic - but this time spread with the aid of passenger jets crossing the globe - that has biologists desperate to contain new outbreaks. The source of the 1918 flu - identified as H1N1 - is still a mystery. The closest known flu strain is one found later in pigs, and some scientists believe it could have come originally from birds. Influenza A viruses are volatile. They mutate quickly and what starts as a fairly mild disease can rapidly become something far more vicious. The fear is that if a virus in animals can be transmitted to humans, it could further mutate to become as contagious to humans as the common cold, passed along with a sneeze. Hong Kong's first bird flu outbreak started - and initially appeared to finish - in chickens. In March 1997, close to 7,000 birds on three New Territories farms were wiped out by an H5 strain. As a precaution, all the farms' other birds were slaughtered and the outbreak looked to have been contained. Two months later, on May 21, a three-year-old boy died of respiratory complications. It was not until August that tests on his blood showed he had been infected with an H5 flu virus known to be lethal in birds and he became the world's first known human carrier. How the boy contracted the disease is not certain, but some point to the fact that chicks and ducklings kept in a " nature corner " in his kindergarten classroom had died before he fell ill. While a handful of people the boy had been in contact with tested positive for antibodies, none had been ill and doctors breathed a little easier. In November, however, a two-year-old boy tested positive for H5. He recovered, but the recurrence of the disease had specialists nervous. Less than a month later, a man aged 54 died of apparent pneumonia. He, too, was found to be carrying H5. Within days, a 13-year-old girl was also diagnosed. This was in early December and, by a week later, three more H5 cases had turned up, two of them in children. Another New Territories chicken farm then reported an H5 outbreak. The Government ordered a mass slaughter of all poultry to contain the outbreak and, on December 28, more than a million birds were killed. That day, the infection rate among chickens in local markets was put at 10 per cent, with ducks and geese also found to be carriers. Altogether, the 1997 outbreak led to 18 confirmed H5N1 cases in humans. Six of those patients died. Microbiologists said later that the poultry slaughter had drastically reduced the chances of more people coming into contact with H5, and there have been no human cases diagnosed since. In February this year, H5N1 was detected in local poultry but did not kill the chickens it infected. Yesterday's announcement marked the first H5N1 deaths since 1997. Local and overseas microbiologists were never convinced that H5N1 and the threat it posed to public health had died with the slaughtered chickens. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thursday, May 17, 2001 Sellers left in dark on plans for market poultry slaughter by CHEUNG CHI-FAI and FLORENCE NG Dismayed poultry sellers accused the Government of unfair treatment after all their birds were slaughtered within four hours. Chan Wai-bun, a stall owner at Smithfield Road Market in Kennedy Town, said: " We only knew this afternoon that all the chickens had to be killed - otherwise we would have taken in fewer stock. We've killed about 100 chickens today, which has cost us about $4,000. " But shutting down the business is going to be worse. We'll lose $2,000 a day. I'm going to be jobless from tomorrow and all my workers have had to be dismissed. " A poultry seller at Yeung Uk Road Market in Tsuen Wan said they had not been told about the discovery of the virus although the Government had stepped up cleaning on Tuesday night. " Had the Government told us earlier, I would not have taken in any chickens this morning, " he said. The man said he lost tens of thousands of dollars when the three-month chicken sale ban was imposed after the bird flu outbreak in 1997. Another seller said the Government should not just target three markets as other markets also got their poultry from a similar source. " We have been keeping the place very clean. How come there is the disease? It must come from the mainland. " Nearly 800 chickens were found dead in Tsuen Wan Market on Tuesday and yesterday. Rhonda Lo Yuet-yee, assistant director of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, said the Government had responded swiftly to the sudden surge in chicken deaths. The administration would spend about $900,000 to compensate for sellers' losses. They would receive $34 for each bird killed while a compassionate allowance ranging from $15,000 to $24,000 would be offered to each seller. The stalls are expected to be closed for two to three weeks. Ms Lo said they had to ensure that the virus was wiped out before allowing trading to resume. Sellers were told of the decision in a meeting with government officials yesterday afternoon but chicken sales continued until the last minute when markets were cordoned off. One housewife returned a chicken to a seller after hearing about the disease. " I'd rather not eat any chicken until the whole thing is over. This is what I did in 1997, " she said. Another woman, who bought a chicken to make soup on Tuesday, said she would dispose of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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