Source: The Standard



Health officials and cops moved into the bird market in Prince Edward yesterday to seize 1,000 birds for slaughter in a new bird-flu alert. The popular tourist spot was closed down for 21 days for disinfection after the deadly H5N1 virus was detected in one of the stalls. The virus was found in a cage holding an oriental magpie robin during a routine check. All the birds at the shop - Ming Kee - will be killed at a Sheung Shui shelter, officials said. Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man was immediately informed. An assistant director of the Agriculture Fisheries and Food Department, Thomas Sit Hon-chung, said there is no need to cull the other 9,000 birds in the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden - popularly known as Bird Street. About 10 department workers, clad from head to toe in white protective gear, hosed down the grounds while police stood by. Twenty-five stall owners and workers and 14 staff members from the department have been put under medical surveillance by the Centre for Health Protection.

The department believes the magpie robin was likely infected by a wild bird in Hong Kong. Imported birds must come from places with no bird flu outbreak. Most are from Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines. "A vet's certificate proving they are not infected is required," said Sit. Health and agriculture officials said the announcement of the infected tourist spot - the first in five years - was not delayed, even though droppings inside the cage of the magpie robin were collected on June 25. Tests on the samples usually take weeks to complete, and the results from the department laboratory came out only yesterday morning.

So far this year 22 dead wild birds have been found to be infected, a five- year high. University of Hong Kong scientists will genetically sequence the virus to see if it has not shifted from the dominant strain, clade 2.3.2.1, said HKU professor of virology and gene sequencing expert Guan Yi. A two-year-old Hong Kong boy survived after being infected with H5N1 last month when a duck that his mother bought in a Guangzhou wet market was slaughtered in front of them. He was rushed to the Caritas Medical Centre in Kowloon before being transferred to Princess Margaret Hospital. The Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said in its latest report yesterday that an H5N1 outbreak in Xinjiang is continuing, with 154,839 birds destroyed so far. A stall owner in Bird Garden called Au said compensation was the shopholders' main worry.

In 2007, the government gave them HK$10,000. "We will discuss the amount among the owners first," he said, adding his 200 birds would not be culled. Another, named Chan, said: "A recession may follow the closure of the garden. Many people will stop keeping birds." The virus has killed more than 330 people around the world, with Indonesia the worst-hit country, suffering eight fatal cases this year. Most of the human infections are the result of direct contact with infected birds.


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