Malaysia rules out bird flu in second health scare
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 November 2005, 22:25 CST
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities on Wednesday ruled out bird flu in a second health scare involving the mysterious death of pigeons in the country's northwest.
Flocks of pigeons have been found dead in two towns in neighboring states over the past few days, raising fears of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, which has killed 64 people in four nearby Asian countries.
"It's all negative," Hawari Hussein, chief of veterinary services, told Reuters after his department ran tests for avian flu on samples from some of a dozen birds found dead in Kedah state.
He said they still did not know what killed the birds.
Tests had already ruled out bird flu as the cause of death in the first flock, found at the weekend in Perak state.
Malaysia last reported the H5N1 virus in an animal in northern Kelantan state on November 22 last year. No human cases have so far been reported in Malaysia.
In January, Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu.
The virus is already endemic in poultry in much of Asia and has killed 42 people in Vietnam, 13 in Thailand, five in Indonesia -- where a sixth is suspected -- and four in Cambodia.
Source: REUTERS
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