Malaysia detects new outbreak of bird flu

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Source: CCTV.com | 06-08-2007 09:55

Veterinary officials in Malaysia have begun culling poultry near the capital Kuala Lumpur after detecting the H5N1 bird flu virus. It's the first case of bird flu to be found in the Southeast Asian nation since March last year, when several chickens tested positive.

Health officials say they have confined bird flu to three villages after the H5N1 virus was found in the carcasses of 67 chickens. The country has so far reported no human cases of the infection.

Krishnan Moorthy, Veterinary department official, said, "Catching the bird 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."

Local villagers looked on as the officials inspected coops and chased after stray backyard poultry.

Ismail Abdul Hassan, villager, said, "We are sad whenever the culling happens but this is a disease and we have to cull the chickens."

Singapore says it is suspending all poultry and egg imports from Malaysia. Singapore residents appeared unfazed by the detection of the virus in Malaysia. Most said they would continue to eat chicken and eggs imported from their neighbor.

Simon, Singapore resident, said, "For me, I'm not worried at all. I think Singapore is quite safe. As you can see now I also eat the chicken everyday, so I have no concern about it."

The World Health Organization says the H5N1 virus has infected more than 300 people in 12 countries and regions since 2003. 188 of them have died. Experts fear that if the virus mutates into a form that allows easy human-to-human transmission, it could trigger a deadly pandemic.

Editor:Du Xiaodan