Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

[Sally Furniss]

Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KLT005095.htm

KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 (Reuters) - Malaysia has detected the H5N1 bird flu virus in village chickens in central Selangor state, a health department official said on Thursday.

"When we sent our boys, we found bird flu in two village chickens but people said 60 chickens had died earlier," the official told Reuters.

The authorities would cull chickens within a one-kilometre radius of the outbreak, he said.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

Malaysia Finds Bird-Flu Virus in Village Outside Kuala Lumpur

By Stephanie Phang

June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia has found the bird flu virus in a village outside the capital Kuala Lumpur and will cull poultry in the area to prevent its spread, the Department of Veterinary Services said today.

Samples taken from Paya Jaras Hilir village, which reported the sudden death of 60 chickens within three days on June 2, tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, the department said in a faxed release.

The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, which has caused deaths among humans in neighboring Indonesia, is part of the HPAI group. The department didn't say if H5N1 was detected.

Malaysia reported its first outbreak of avian influenza in more than a year in February 2006, when the H5N1 strain killed 40 chickens in the state of Selangor. The country declared itself free of the disease four months later.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Phang in Kuala Lumpur at sphang@bloomberg.net .

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=auuzmmAxKPuU&refer=asia

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

Bird flu detected, culling begins

By SIM LEOI LEOI

PUTRAJAYA: A case of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu strain has been detected in a village in Sg Buloh, the first incident in Malaysia after the outbreak in March last year.

Agricultural and Agro-based Industries Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Zulkifli Idris said eight teams from the Veterinary Services Department had been dispatched to cull all chicken and birds within a 1km-radius of the village Kg Paya Jaras Hilir beginning 2pm Wednesday.

Also affected were three other villages in the surrounding area - Kg Paya Jaras Hulu, Kg Jaras Dalam and Kg Kubu Gajah.

Similarly at risk was the duck breeding centre ran by the department, located less than 300m from the site.

"On Saturday (June 2), the Petaling veterinary office in Shah Alam received a complaint from a resident in the village that 60 of his chicken died suddenly in the past three days.

"Our officers visited the site the following day and took samples from the sick animals for testing at the Petaling Jaya veterinary laboratory.

"Initial testing showed that it was the virulent bird flu strain H5N1. This was subsequently confirmed by another round of testing at the Veterinary Research Institute in Ipoh.

"We have put this case on ?red alert? throughout the country and all officers in the other states have been directed to monitor birds in their areas," he said here on Wednesday.

The areas within 10Km radius of the affected villages would also be put on a three-month clinical surveillance for signs of any recurrence, added Dr Zulkifli.

"The Health Ministry has been informed and they will take all the necessary steps to monitor the health conditions and symptoms of the residents living in the area," he pointed out.

Dr Zulkifli said an estimated 2,000 birds and eggs, including chicken and ducks, would be culled in the operation.

"This is an isolated case and there is no worry at present. We will attempt to clear the affected areas of any sick bird within 36 hours," he said, adding that Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is currently overseas, had been informed on the latest development.

Dr Zulkifli said although the affected area was not involved in any export or import of chicken - the nearest commercial farm was 12km away - both the Federation of Livestock Farmers Association and the Singapore?s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority had been informed of the measures taken by the Government.

Dr Zulkifli said the department was still trying to trace the original source of the virus.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/6/6/nation/20070606175316&sec=nation

 

[Mingus]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

It appear to be in Malaysia

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/Frontpage/20070607081736/Article/index_html

2007/06/07
Bird flu strikes in Sungai Buloh :67 chickens die of bird flu in Sungai Buloh village

By : Annie Freeda Cruez, Farrah Naz Karim, S. Shankar and Lee Shi-Ian

PUTRAJAYA:The bird flu or avian influenza, carrying the H5N1 virus, has made a comeback with the death of 67 chickens at a village in Sungai Buloh.
<!--start pix2 & pix3--> <table align="right" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="3" width="200"> </table> <!--end pix2 & pix3--> The chickens died at Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir over three days from Saturday.

This was announced yesterday by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry secretary-general Da- tuk Dr Zulkifli Idris who said two of the chickens tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

He said his ministry had notified the Federation of Live Fowl Associations of Malaysia to remind its members to exercise caution in the wake of the latest bird flu outbreak.

"As is normal practice, we have also notified the Singapore AVA (Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority) so that the transparency of the ministry is not questioned and import from unaffected areas could continue as usual," he said at a press conference, which was also attended by the Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin.
Zulkifli said measures had been drawn up to ensure the virus was contained.

This included the setting up of eight teams comprising 96 officers, working in shifts to destroy all chickens within a 10km radius of the outbreak.

Besides Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir, three other villages ? Kampung Paya Jaras Hulu, Kampung Pa- ya Jaras Dalam and Kampung Kubu Gajah ? are within a 1km radius of the affected area.

Some 2,000 chickens are expected to be destroyed.

The last outbreak of bird flu occurred last year in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, in February and several villages in Perak in March. The country was declared free of the virus in June last year.

Abdul Aziz, who visited the area at noon yesterday, said the outbreak was an isolated case.

There has been no new death of chicken.

"The department is investigating the source of the H5N1 virus.

"We expect our operations to destroy the chickens to be completed in 36 hours," he said, adding that all state VSDs had been alerted.

Compensation will be paid to owners of chickens affected by the culling exercise.

Abdul Aziz said the villagers had informed him that the deaths of birds occurred during the start of the school holidays.

"There were not many birds in the kampung concerned. In our one-hour survey, we only saw some 20 birds."

Abdul Aziz said the nearest commercial chicken farm was 12 to 20km away. A duck farm, however, is located 300 metres from the place of the outbreak.



Adnan Mohd Isa?s mother hen and 12 chicks were among those culled last night.

"I accept the officials taking the chickens away as it is in public interest and also for health reasons," he said.

In Kuala Langat, Selangor Men- teri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said 12,000 people lived in the villages and they had been told to hand over their chickens to the VSD.

It is estimated that there are 7,000 chickens and 5,000 ducks in these villages.

Dr Khir advised villagers to see a doctor immediately if they came down with fever.

 

[tzeonn]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

From Today Newspapers, Thurs 6th June 2007 (Singapore)

ALL poultry and egg products from Selangor have been banned from Singapore following an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in chickens there. But given the small amount of such imports from Selangor, the impact on the market is likely to be minimal. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) was informed by the Malaysian Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) yesterday that there was an outbreak of bird flu in a village on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Sixty chickens died from an outbreak in Sungei Buluh.

?Although the poultry and layer farms in Selangor that have been approved to export to Singapore are bio-secured, AVA is suspending poultry and egg imports from Selangor as a precautionary measure with immediate effect,? the AVA said yesterday. This is the first time this year that poultry and egg imports from Malaysia have been suspended. The last suspension of poultry and poultry products from Selangor and Perak was lifted in June last year.

Malaysia supplies 3.6 million poultry and 83.7 million eggs a month to Singapore. Imports from Selangor make up 6 per cent of the poultry and 1 per cent of the egg imports. ?As such, the impact of the suspension of poultry and egg imports from Selangor on our poultry and egg supplies is not significant,? said the AVA. The Singapore Poultry Merchants? Association agreed. Its president, Mr Joseph Heng, told TODAY that he expects prices to remain stable. The Egg Import/Export Trading Association, however, expects egg prices to go up slightly. ?For 10 eggs, prices may increase by half a cent to one cent, let?s wait and see how the supply is affected in the next few days,? said association president Ang Teng Hong. The Selangor authorities have moved in to control the situation. ?We will implement standard procedures. We will cull birds within a one-kilometre radius from the index cases,? the head of DVS? disease control, Dr Kamarudin Mohammed Isa, told AFP.

The Malaysian Agriculture Ministry said ?this is an isolated case which does not involve a lot of dead chickens?. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, however, warned against complacency. ?They have to identify and quickly take whatever measures to prevent it from spreading,? he said. Surveillance teams were sent to areas around Sungei Buluh to check for more outbreaks but so far, none has been detected. In line with the established protocol between the veterinary authorities of the two countries for poultry imports from disease-free zones in Malaysia, the Selangor ban will not affect other states from where Singapore imports its poultry and eggs, such as Johor, Melaka, Negri Sembilan and Perak.

The AVA said that all poultry and egg supplies in Singapore are safe to eat. The Singapore Ministry of Health said that it will ?stay vigilant on developments through continuous monitoring of news reports of disease outbreaks overseas and assessing the risks of these occurrences?.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

Jun 7, 2:42 AM EDT


Malaysian teams fan out to contain spread of H5N1 bird flu virus

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Veterinary teams inspecting livestock in four villages have slaughtered more than 1,300 birds in efforts to contain Malaysia's first reported outbreak of bird flu in more than a year, an animal health official said Thursday.

Tests on a sample of 60 birds who died last week in Sungai Buloh, near Malaysia's commercial capital Kuala Lumpur, confirmed they had the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Veterinary Services Department said Tuesday.

Since then, authorities have deployed more than 120 veterinary, medical and other officers to check birds and conduct house-to-house inspections in four villages in Sungai Buloh, Selangor state, said Kamarudin Mohammed Isa, the department's disease control chief.

"We are closely monitoring the area. There is no reason to be alarmed. Everything is under control," Kamarudin told The Associated Press.

Animal health officials destroyed 1,359 birds and 438 chicken eggs on Wednesday, and police have set up road blocks to ensure villagers don't smuggle chickens out of the area, he said.

"We expect to cull a total of more than 2,000 chickens and fowl in the area. These are mainly backyard village chickens," Kamarudin said.

Malaysia last reported an outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain in March 2006 in chickens in a northern village. The government declared the country free of bird flu in June 2006.

No other birds in Sungai Buloh have died of bird flu since the weekend, and there have been no reports of people suffering any symptoms, such as fever, Kamarudin said.

A state-owned commercial duck farm near the affected village, Paya Jaras Hilir, is under observation and authorities have taken sample swabs from thousands of ducks reared in the farm, he said.

"It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of the infection," he said, adding that further analysis will be conducted to determine the source of the virus. He reiterated that it was an isolated incident.

Bird flu has killed at least 189 people since H5N1 started ravaging Asian poultry flocks in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. There have been no fatalities in Malaysia.

Neighboring Singapore has suspended poultry and egg imports from Selangor state.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-06-07-02-42-20

 

[tzeonn]

Re: Malaysia says finds bird flu virus in chickens

From Today Newspapers (Singapore) 8th June 2007

Malaysia bird flu source a mystery

Thousands of birds culled in ?isolated? incident in Selangor

KUALA LUMPUR ? Thousands of birds were killed yesterday after avian flu resurfaced in Malaysia but the source of the outbreak remained unclear, a health official said.

The authorities killed 1,359 birds in and around the affected village since the virus was confirmed on Tuesday, said Mr Kamarudin Mohammed Isa, head of disease control at the Department of Veterinary Services. Tests on a sample of 60 birds that died last week in Sungai Buloh confirmed they had the H5N1 bird flu virus, the Veterinary Services Department said.

Reuters quoted the authorities as saying they will cull chickens within a 1km radius of the outbreak area in Selangor, which surrounds Kuala Lumpur, and impose a 10km quarantine area around the village.

Reuters also quoted Mr Krishnan Moorthy, an official with the state veterinary department, as saying: ?Catching the birds is a problem because in the daytime, you cannot catch the birds, only in the night. And we don?t know if they are infected or not.? The outbreak is Malaysia?s first in more than a year.

Mr Kamarudin said there were ?a few more thousand? birds still to be destroyed in the area. ?It?s chickens and other birds, a few quails,? he said.

Officials in white protective suits began the cull on Wednesday night, collecting birds, including pets and geese, for testing and disposal. After taking swabs, the birds were placed in sacks to be taken away and killed later.

?We are closely monitoring the area. There is no reason to be alarmed. Everything is under control,? he said.

Mr Kamarudin said the authorities are still trying to find the source of the infection. Officials call the outbreak isolated and said no other cases have been detected elsewhere in Malaysia. Neither has the virus spread to humans,
Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said.

A state-owned commercial duck farm near the affected village, Paya Jaras Hilir, is also under observation and the authorities have taken sample swabs from thousands of ducks reared on the farm, Mr Kamarudin said.