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Malaysia | Bird flu virus detected in Penang chickens
PETALING JAYA: The bird flu virus has been detected in kampung chickens in Kampung Permatang Bagak, in Seberang Prai Utara, Penang.
The Star
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KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia announced a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus in a village in the northern state of Penang.
The outbreak, the third in less than a week, was detected in six dead birds in the village of Permatang Bagak, said Mustapa Jalil, acting director-general of the Veterinary Services Department.
'We have activated a rapid action team which will slaughter all the birds in the area,' he told Agence France-Presse.
Officials began testing the birds, out of a group of 20, on March 18, he said.
'We confirmed the H5N1 outbreak on March 20th, that is today,' Mustapa said.
Most of the birds in the village are free-range chickens, he said, adding that there are at least 200 of them within a one-kilometer radius of the outbreak.
The village is in the north of mainland Penang, which borders Perak state where the two earlier outbreaks were announced on Thursday.
Mainland Penang is just across a narrow channel from its popular resort island.
The head of the Veterinary Department's disease control unit, Kamaruddin Mat Isa, said officials do not know how the virus is being spread, but said the latest outbreak is not linked to the Perak outbreaks.
'I don't think it has come from Perak. It has not spread from Perak to Penang,' Kamaruddin told AFP, adding that officials by yesterday had completed the slaughter of more than 40,000 birds in Perak to contain the disease.
'It's not spread from one location to the surrounding area, but there are multiple locations,' he said, confirming that officials are worried over the development.
Kamaruddin said the slaughter of birds within a one-kilometer radius of the Penang village is due to start later today.
The Health Ministry's director for disease control, Ramlee Rahmat, said officials will start conducting door-to-door checks tomorrow in the area around the latest outbreak to check for people with symptoms of the virus.
'It is still localized in three different areas,' he said of the outbreaks.
No human cases of bird flu have been reported so far in Malaysia.
Malaysia on Thursday last week announced the two outbreaks of the bird flu virus at a village and a nature reserve near the Perak border with Penang.
Perak has one of the country's biggest poultry industries and exports to neighboring Singapore.
Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying by the national Bernama news agency today that a poultry quarantine has been imposed on Perak, and that all poultry is now banned from leaving the state.
H5N1 was detected last month in 40 free-range chickens in four villages on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the first outbreak in the country in more than a year.
Forbes
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