| Malaysia announces new bird flu outbreak |
| KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 - Malaysia Monday announced a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, in a village in the northern state of Penang. The outbreak, the third in less than a week, was detected in six dead birds in the village of Permatang Bagak, said Mustapa Jalil, acting director-general of the Veterinary Services Department. "We have activated a rapid action team which will slaughter all the birds in the area," he told AFP. Officials began testing the birds, out of a group of 20, on March 18, he said. "We confirmed the H5N1
outbreak on March 20th, that is today," said Mustapa. Most of the birds in the village were free-range chickens, he said, adding that there were at least 200 of them within a one-kilometre (0.6 mile) radius of the outbreak. The village is in the north of mainland Penang, which borders Perak state where the two earlier outbreaks were announced Thursday. Mainland Penang is just across a narrow channel from its popular resort island. The head of the Veterinary Department's disease control unit, Kamaruddin Mat Isa, said officials did not know how the virus was being spread, but said the latest outbreak was not linked to the Perak outbreaks. "I don't think it has come from Perak. It has not spread from Perak to Penang," Kamaruddin told AFP, adding that officials Sunday had completed the slaughter of more than 40,000 birds in Perak to contain the disease. It's not spread from one location to the surrounding
area, but there are multiple locations," he said, confirming that officials were worried over the development." Kamaruddin said the slaughter of birds within a one-kilometre radius of the Penang village was due to start late Monday. The Health Ministry's director for disease control, Ramlee Rahmat, said officials would start conducting door-to-door checks Tuesday in the area around the latest outbreak to check for people with symptoms of the virus. |
Yahoo! Cars NEW - sell your car and browse thousands of new and used cars online search now
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of Hidayahnet unless sanctioned or approved otherwise.
If your mailbox clogged with mails from Hidayahnet, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
- Visit your group "hidayahnet" on the web.
- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
