March 16, 2005

Indonesian's South Sulawesi hit by bird flu

Indonesia has reported a new bird flu outbreak on Sulawesi Island, with the virus having already killed some 25,000 chickens.

The country has been troubled by bird flu since 2003, although no human cases have been detected so far.

Arifin Sarsa, deputy chief of the agriculture ministry's livestock department, stated that not all chicken deaths were due to bird flu.

He added that they were trying to control the spread of the virus through the distribution of vaccines and asking chicken breeders to administer shots.

As recommended by the World Health Organization, all healthy birds in close proximity to a source of an outbreak should be culled to curb the spread of the disease. Countries in Southeast Asia affected by bird flu practice this preventive measure.

The World Health Organization has issued a warning that a global flu pandemic could occur if the current avian flu virus mutates into a form that spreads easily among people.

Millions of birds have been killed since bird flu surfaced in Asia in 2003.