February 27, 2006

 

Poultry sales fall in Malaysia after bird flu discovery 
 

 

Malaysians are consuming less chicken after a bird flu outbreak was reported last week, an official said Saturday, as authorities continued to cull birds in the affected area.

 

Sales have fallen by about 30 percent, or 300,000 chickens daily, in peninsular Malaysia, said industry spokesman Lee Chong Meng.

 

"We are suffering a drop of about RMB3 million (US$807,900) in sales every day," Lee told The Associated Press.

 

"Malaysians should not worry about eating chicken as the bird flu outbreak is confined to a small area and there has been no spreading," he said.

 

Forty chickens died from the H5N1 virus last week in four villages outside Malaysia's main city, Kuala Lumpur--the country's first bird flu cases in more than a year. No further infection has been reported.

 

The authorities are conducting a bird culling operation within a 1-kilometre radius of the four villages, expected to be completed Sunday.

 

As of early Saturday, 2,760 chickens, 130 ducks and 143 other birds have been culled and 1,171 eggs destroyed, said Veterinary Services Department's acting director-general Mustapa Abdul Jalil.

 

Veterinary officials will then work outward up to a 10-kilometre radius, taking sample swabs from birds, poultry and any free-range chickens they find, for clinical tests.

 

"If we find any dead bird, we will immediately take it for a post-mortem," said Mustapa.

 

Ramlee Rahmat, director of the health ministry's disease control division, said two people isolated in a Kuala Lumpur hospital ward on Thursday Feb 23 for showing flu symptoms, were discharged late Friday Feb 24 after they tested negative for the H5N1 virus.

 

Eight others warded earlier for observation had been cleared, while there are no new admissions, Ramlee said.

 

Bird flu in Malaysia was first detected in villages in the north-eastern Kelantan state in August 2004, in fighting cocks smuggled from neighbouring Thailand. No humans were infected. Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu in January 2005.