Bird Flu Virus Detected Near Sungei Buloh, Selangor

The H5N1 virus has been detected in Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir near Sungei Buloh, Selangor, a health department official said today.

"When we sent our boys, we found bird flu in two village chickens but people said sixty chickens had died earlier," the official, Kamaruddin Mohamed Isa, the head of disease control for Malaysia's veterinary services department added. "We will cull all chickens and impose a 10 km quarantine area and the police will put a road block around this area," Kamaruddin said.

(The authorities have started culling all chicken and fowl there and three nearby villages within a one-kilometre radius of the outbreak as a preventive move.)

Malaysia has reported no human cases of the infection, but today's incident was the first time avian influenza had been found here since March 21 last year when several chickens tested positive for the virus, he said.

The World Health Organisation says H5N1 has infected more than 300 people in 12 countries, 188 of whom have died since the disease re-emerged in Asia in late 2003. Most human cases have involved people who have had contact with infected fowl. Experts fear if the virus mutates into a form that allows easy human-to-human transmission, this could trigger a pandemic that could kill millions around the world. (Source - TheStar SMS Alert, Reuters)
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Update (6/08/07): Bird Flu: Five People Admitted To Hospital For Observation