September 18, 2007

 

Hong Kong bans duck and geese imports from Guangdong

 

 

Hong Kong suspended chilled and frozen duck and geese imports from China's southern Guangdong province on Monday (Sep 17) after a suspected outbreak of H5N1 bird flu virus was announced there.

 

The suspension would last for one week, Health Secretary York Chow said, adding that a plan to increase live chicken imports for the mid-autumn festival would be cancelled. Hong Kong imports its poultry supplies mainly from the province. Live bird imports have a ceiling of 20,000 a day but is adjustable, depending on demand on special occasions.

 

China announced on Saturday a suspected outbreak of H5N1 among ducks in Panyu district of Guangdong. Close to 10,000 ducks had died of the outbreak and 33,000 ducks in the area were culled to contain the disease.

 

Initial tests by provincial officials showed that the birds died of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. The incident was the first reported in China in four months.

 

Chow said all imports of live chickens, eggs and chilled and frozen poultry meat from farms within a 24 km (15 mile) radius of the infected farm would be suspended.

 

Meanwhile, authorities in Guangdong said they would bring forward a poultry vaccination programme initially planned at the end of September.

 

Ensuring all poultry supplies for the festival market are safe is critical as the mid-Autumn festival and National Day holidays are nearing, Yu Yedong, director of the Guangdong Animal Vaccination Centre, said.

 

Officials were also reviewing the quality of vaccines used on local poultry farms, because records showed all the ducks in the district had been vaccinated against bird flu.

 

Various reasons could lead to vaccination failure, such as the temperature and humidity levels for vaccines during transport and the method of injection, Yu said.

 

Also, water fowl like ducks are more susceptible to bird flu than chickens as they are less adept at fighting the disease. A one-time vaccination can protect up to 80 percent of chickens but only 65 per cent of ducks, he added.