Diane Morin
Moderator
Cross-border mission seeks answers to avian flu puzzle
<!-- A Hong Kong delegation is inspecting chicken farms in Shenzhen and Guangdong after the discovery of 33 poultry carcasses, with 12 testing positive for the H5N1 virus. More test results are pending.
//-->Adele Wong
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A Hong Kong delegation is inspecting chicken farms in Shenzhen and Guangdong after the discovery of 33 poultry carcasses, with 12 testing positive for the H5N1 virus. More test results are pending.
Speaking at a Legislative Council panel, Undersecretary for Food and Health Gabriel Leung said the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department recently sent officials to inspect chicken farms across the border and confirmed the mainland has been doing inspections of its own.
"The mainland authorities have inspected nine million chickens, and no bird flu was found," Leung told the panel.
He said the Hong Kong group yesterday started inspecting chicken farms in Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta region. Officials from the Food and Health Bureau and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department have been dispatched to liaise with Ministry of Commerce, Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection officials in Beijing to get a better understanding of the avian flu situation, Leung said.
When asked by panel chairman Fred Li Wah-ming why it took them so long to dispatch the officials, given that the first carcasses were discovered at the end of January, Leung replied the holidays in the mainland caused scheduling complications.
Meanwhile, 20 illegal birds have been found in the New Territories since inspections on backyard poultry commenced following the discovery of poultry carcasses on Lantau, all of which tested negative for bird flu, Leung said.
Mai Po Nature Reserve was closed earlier this month for 21 days after a dead gray heron with H5N1 was found nearby.
A large-billed crow found dead in Ancient Kiln Park on Lantau was also confirmed to have H5N1 yesterday.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said the latest cases have taken to 12 the total number of birds found to have the virus since January 29.
The department confirmed last night that the highly decomposed carcass of the large- billed crow was found on Lantau on February 5. The other 11 infected birds included chicken, ducks and the heron.
There have been eight cases of human infection of avian flu in the mainland since December, five of them fatal.
Reports reached Hong Kong last night that 500 chickens have died from avian flu in Hotan prefecture in Xinjiang, leading mainland officials to cull 13,000 poultry to keep infection under control.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_...4&sid=22646796&con_type=1&d_str=20090211&fc=4
<!-- A Hong Kong delegation is inspecting chicken farms in Shenzhen and Guangdong after the discovery of 33 poultry carcasses, with 12 testing positive for the H5N1 virus. More test results are pending.
//-->Adele Wong
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
A Hong Kong delegation is inspecting chicken farms in Shenzhen and Guangdong after the discovery of 33 poultry carcasses, with 12 testing positive for the H5N1 virus. More test results are pending.
Speaking at a Legislative Council panel, Undersecretary for Food and Health Gabriel Leung said the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department recently sent officials to inspect chicken farms across the border and confirmed the mainland has been doing inspections of its own.
"The mainland authorities have inspected nine million chickens, and no bird flu was found," Leung told the panel.
He said the Hong Kong group yesterday started inspecting chicken farms in Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta region. Officials from the Food and Health Bureau and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department have been dispatched to liaise with Ministry of Commerce, Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection officials in Beijing to get a better understanding of the avian flu situation, Leung said.
When asked by panel chairman Fred Li Wah-ming why it took them so long to dispatch the officials, given that the first carcasses were discovered at the end of January, Leung replied the holidays in the mainland caused scheduling complications.
Meanwhile, 20 illegal birds have been found in the New Territories since inspections on backyard poultry commenced following the discovery of poultry carcasses on Lantau, all of which tested negative for bird flu, Leung said.
Mai Po Nature Reserve was closed earlier this month for 21 days after a dead gray heron with H5N1 was found nearby.
A large-billed crow found dead in Ancient Kiln Park on Lantau was also confirmed to have H5N1 yesterday.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said the latest cases have taken to 12 the total number of birds found to have the virus since January 29.
The department confirmed last night that the highly decomposed carcass of the large- billed crow was found on Lantau on February 5. The other 11 infected birds included chicken, ducks and the heron.
There have been eight cases of human infection of avian flu in the mainland since December, five of them fatal.
Reports reached Hong Kong last night that 500 chickens have died from avian flu in Hotan prefecture in Xinjiang, leading mainland officials to cull 13,000 poultry to keep infection under control.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_...4&sid=22646796&con_type=1&d_str=20090211&fc=4