AI - not good news

Indonesia finds H5N1 infected but healthy chickens
05 Oct 2005 11:36:28 GMT

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG184415.htm

HONG KONG, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Indonesian health authorities have found
chickens which tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus but which appear
to be healthy, a sign that the bug may become harder to detect, officials in
Hong Kong and Jakarta said.

Some species of waterfowl, like ducks and geese, are natural hosts of the
H5N1 and do not fall ill from it. But the virus has always been known to be
virulent in chickens, which fall sick quickly and die within 24 hours of
contracting it.

Hong Kong's Health Minister York Chow said authorities in Indonesia had
found infected chickens which were asymptomatic of the virus.

"As the virus may have spread so widely (in Indonesia), chickens have now
become hosts," Chow told reporters in Hong Kong on Wednesday. He did not
give other details.

"We are worried that if there are infected chickens which don't show any
symptoms, then if we are in close contact with them, the chances of humans
getting infected will be higher."

Mathur Riady, director general of the poultry department at Indonesia's
agriculture ministry, confirmed the report.

"... we have also learned that in the case of the virus in birds they can be
affected but they won't die," he told Reuters in Jakarta. "They even show no
clinical symptoms."

Leo Poon, a microbiologist at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, said the
discovery of the H5N1 infected, but asymptomatic, chickens was bad news, but
more information was needed.

There are many different strains of the H5N1. Many have low pathogenicity
and are relatively harmless, and only some have proven to be deadly for
birds and humans.

"We don't have all the information and they could have just found a low
pathogenic strain of H5N1 in the chickens. Or this could be a highly
pathogenic strain but which has adapted itself in chickens or turned less
virulent," Poon said.

"But the more chickens are infected, the higher the chance of the virus
spilling over to humans," he said.






--

regards
Jill Bowis

Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk

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