February 22, 2006

 

Malaysia enlarges bird flu watch area to downtown capital

 

 

Malaysia expanded its bird flu watch area to downtown Kuala Lumpur, including the landmark Petronas Twin Towers, and culled nearly 500 birds following the latest outbreak of the disease, an official said Wednesday.

 

Forty chickens were confirmed to have died of the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu last week in four hamlets in Gombak outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital city. It was the first reported case of the disease in more than a year in the country.

 

On Tuesday, government officials seized and destroyed 494 chickens, birds and ducks, and 232 eggs after house-to-house checks in the four villages, said Kamaruddin Mohamad Isa, the director for disease control in the Veterinary Services Department.

 

He said the department has also declared a 10 kilometer radius observation zone around the villages, encompassing the up-market neighborhoods of Bangsar and Sri Hartamas, and the city center area including the Petronas Twin Towers.

 

"Last night we almost finished killing all the birds and chickens in the affected area," Kamaruddin told The Associated Press. "It won't reach Bangsar or the other outer places."

 

Although highly urbanized and wealthy, Kuala Lumpur has pockets of low-income housing areas such as Kampung Baru, about one kilometer from the Petronas Twin Towers, where people keep a few chickens for their daily needs.

 

Kamaruddin said veterinary teams will observe and collect samples from birds within the 10 kilometer surveillance zone to check for the H5N1 virus. They will also check for human infections, which have not been detected so far.

 

The New Straits Times newspaper cited anonymous sources from the Health Department as saying authorities suspect the bird flu had likely originated from fighting cockerels in the villages.

 

"The cockerels may have been brought here by foreign workers who organized illegal cock fights," the source was quoted as saying.

 

Meanwhile, the Malaysian National Zoo, not far from the four villages hit by bird flu, has closed its bird enclosure to the public and begun disinfecting visitors and cars entering the facility.

 

"We cannot take chances," the zoo's director, Mohamad Ngah, was quoted as saying by the Times.

 

Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu in January 2005, more than six weeks after its last infection was detected in villages in the north-eastern Kelantan state. The disease was discovered there in August 2004 in fighting cocks smuggled from neighboring Thailand. No humans were infected.

 

The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.