May 17, 2006

Bird flu spreads to Indonesia's eastern-most province

Indonesia has found bird flu virus in chickens in Papua province, the first bird flu case in the country's easternmost province, a senior government official said on Tuesday (May 17).

A number of fighting cocks in Manokwari regency of western Papua tested positive for H5N1, prompting authorities to cull about 200 chickens, said Syamsul Bahri, animal health director at the agriculture ministry.

The fighting cocks might have been sourced from neighbouring Sulawesi island, Bahri said.

Most of the chickens culled were from backyard farms, he said.

Bird flu has been found in more than 20 provinces in Indonesia.

The latest case has cast doubts in the international community over Indonesia's ability to contain the virus, which has killed 25 people in the country.

The government has not implemented mass culling due to the expense and logistics involved in the archipelago of 18,000 islands. Most bird rearing locations are also scattered and found in backyard farms.

Bahri said the government faced strong protests from chicken farmers whenever the mass culling issue was raised as compensation was meagre.

Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organisation's director for the Western Pacific, said that Indonesia had the will to combat the disease but outer provinces had fallen short in implementing bird flu measures.