Friday, January 05, 2007
Hong Kong steps up checks after bird flu infection
HONG KONG: Hong Kong said it’s stepping up inspections after a bird was found with H5 avian flu in the city’s fashionable shopping district of Causeway Bay.
One wild bird, a Scaly Breasted Munia, tested positive for the H5 subtype of avian influenza and five others were negative. The bird was found on Dec. 31 and preliminary tests were completed Wednesday.
“We suspect the infection came from migratory birds,” Assistant Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Thomas Sit Hon-chung said at a briefing in Hong Kong Thursday. The risk of human infection is low, though authorities must stay vigilant, he said. Sit wasn’t able to confirm whether the bird was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.
The government will intensify inspections of backyard poultry and along the city’s borders and markets, Sit said. Hong Kong tested 11,000 wild birds last year and 17 were found positive for an H5 avian flu subtype, he said.
Source: International Herald Tribune