Guest guest Posted February 3, 2002 Report Share Posted February 3, 2002 03 February 2002 http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,3707071%5E1702,00.html Bird flu hits Hong Kong From our wire services 03 feb 2002 HONG KONG: Health officials in Hong Kong have begun a mass slaughter of more than 100,000 chickens in an effort to contain an outbreak of bird flu, a strain of which killed six people in 1997. The alarm was raised after the deaths of 10,000 birds on a farm in the territory, although it is unclear whether they had contracted the H5 strain blamed for the 1997 deaths, a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said. " During farm visits, AFCD's veterinary officers found that about 10,000 chickens died in the farm. Thus, the decision was made to depopulate the farm, " said AFCD director Thomas Chan. He stressed the outbreak was an isolated incident, although a raid on a poultry market yesterday had resulted in the seizure of several " suspect " chickens. In 1997, the outbreak of avian flu prompted the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds as authorities attempted to contain the killer bug. A second bout of the virus last year led to similar measures, although tests revealed the strain was non-fatal to humans. Agriculture officials have yet to complete full analysis on the latest outbreak, however newspaper reports say there is a strong indication that the killer virus could be responsible. The South China Morning Post said microbiologists believe the H5 virus is the culprit because of the speed and high mortality rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.