Bird Flu - Avian Influenza - news - information

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Hundreds of chickens culled in Semarang, Indonesia, due to bird flu

JAKARTA, March 1 (Xinhua)—Hundreds of chickens in Krajan villa, Bringin subdistrict, Semarang District in Indonesia’s Central Java province, were culled due to bird flu (avian influenza) virus spreading in the area.

Around 400 chickens were burned and then buried in an attempt to curb bird flu virus, Antara news agency reported on Saturday.

The measure was taken following the death of tens of chickens earlier due to bird flu virus, the report said.

The report quoted head of the Semarang animal husbandry and fishery office Agus Purwoko Djati as saying that a rapid kit test conducted by officers of the Participatory Disease Surveillance Response team had confirmed that the chickens had died of bird flu.

To prevent the bird flu virus from spreading to wider areas, hundreds of chickens found surrounding the dead chickens were culled. Owners of the chickens received 10,000 rupiah (about 1.1 U.S. dollars) in compensation for each chicken that has to be killed.

Bird flu story source: Xinhua

New bird flu cases found in Dominican Republic

HAVANA, Feb. 29 (Xinhua)—New cases of bird flu have been reported in the northeastern region of the Dominican Republic and thousands of birds were culled to prevent the spread of the virus, the country’s Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

Precautionary measures have been taken, including the culling of chickens within a radius of five kilometers of the virus-hit area, since the cases were found earlier this week, news reports said.

This is the bird flu outburst in the country since December 2007.

The virus has dealt a heavy blow to chicken farms in the country since neighboring Haiti stopped imports of chicken and eggs from the Dominican Republic since the virus was found on chickens there.

Avian flu story source: Xinhua

Bird flu discovered in dead goose (UK)

A dead goose has tested positive for the highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, government scientists have said.

The remains of the bird were discovered around 1km (0.6m) from Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, where a number of swans have been found with the disease.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the Canada goose was the eleventh wild bird in the area to test positive for H5N1.

Restrictions on the movement of poultry have now been introduced in the area.

Defra said the decision was based on veterinary advice. Poultry keepers will not be able to move birds from their premises except under license.

A spokeswoman said that the latest case of bird flu was “not unexpected”.

She said H5N1 was active at a very low level among wild birds in the area, and there was no evidence of the virus in domestic poultry locally.

Regular surveillance was continuing, she added, with patrols looking for dead birds.

Abbotsbury
Poultry movements are restricted in a zone around Abbotsbury Swannery

A Wild Bird Monitoring Area is in place around the affected area, with keepers required to keep domestic poultry away from wild birds.

Owners have been urged to stay vigilant and report any signs of the disease.

Bird flu story source: BBC