Monday, June 18, 2007
Hong Kong Closes Bird Market After Finding Avian Flu
June 17 (Bloomberg)—Hong Kong ``temporarily’’ closed the city’s bird market after finding the H5N1 virus in a starling in a shop there, the government said.
Officials detected the virus in a fecal swab sample taken from a Daurian Starling in the bird market on June 4, the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department said in a statement released late yesterday.
Yuen Po Street Bird Garden will remain closed while stalls are disinfected, the department said. The market, a popular tourist destination in the city’s Mongkok district, is packed with shops selling pet birds, as well cages, live crickets and other accessories.
The department removed all the birds in the shop where the starling was found, and will collect swab samples daily when the market reopens. Stall owners and employees are all under medical surveillance, the statement said. No date was given for the reopening of the market.
Bird flu story source: Bloomberg News Service