Avian flu in Hong Kong, one death in Indonesia
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) Three Hong Kong residents hospitalised with bird flu symptoms do not have the disease, but in Indonesia another death due to the viral infection is reported. In the meantime, Indian scientists announce a "revolutionary" vaccine.
A woman and two men from the village of Yuen Tuen Shan, next to the border with the People's Republic, were hospitalised yesterday in the isolation ward after it was found that a chicken they had eaten for the Lunar New Year celebrations had nested with an H5N1-infected bird that had died. The birds had been smuggled into the Hong Kong Territory from neighbouring Guangdong on January 26. However, no bird flu cases have been reported in the Chinese province in 2005. The local Health, Welfare and Food Bureau announced today that tests on the three patients were negative.
The authorities ordered the Mai Po Natural Reserve shut down right away and the surrender to an animal management centre of all poultry from within a five-kilometre area around the property in Sha Tau Kok village where the infected bird was found. Raising poultry in henhouses or backyards has been banned.
Also yesterday, a dead crested mynah, a local wild species, was found in suburban Wong Tai Sin and it tested positive for the killer disease.
"The latest [H5N1] discovery [. . .] reveals that virus is already in Hong Kong," said Chinese University microbiology Prof Paul Chan. "Therefore, [. . .] the government should raise its mitigation measures to a corresponding level".
In the United States, a group of Indian scientists announced that they had developed a new vaccine against the H5N1 virus. In a paper published in a scientific journal, they report that that their new product provided 100 per cent protection to laboratory mice infected with the virus. However, it takes six months to prepare it, too much time after the start of the epidemic.
Indonesia. The Health Ministry confirmed today that a 15-year-old who died in hospital in Bandung (capital of West Java) had the virus. He is the 15th victim in the country. Results are pending from tests done on a 22-year-old poultry trader who died in January.
Cyprus. On the Turkish side of the island 1,200 chickens were culled within a 10-km radius from a farm where some infected birds were found dead on January 29.
Iraq. More than 500,000 chickens were culled in two days after it was confirmed that a 15-year-old girl who died on January had the virus. The girl lived with an aunt who had the same symptoms and who died January 27.
United Arab Emirates. Poultry sales dropped between 10 and 20 per cent, according to the local Poultry Producers Association, for losses totalling 20 million dirham (about US$ 5.44). In Dubai, the city's pigeons were culled en masse as a precautionary measure. (PB)
.png)
