Bird flu strikes Indonesia’s tsunami-hit Aceh

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Hundreds of chickens have died of bird
flu in Indonesia’s Aceh in recent weeks, the first cases
detected in the tsunami-hit province, an official said on
Friday.

Syamsul Bahri, director of Animal Health at the Agriculture
Ministry, said the outbreak surfaced among backyard chickens in
three areas largely spared from the December 26 tsunami that
left 170,000 people dead or missing.

There had been no suspected human cases in Aceh, he said.
Indonesia has recorded seven confirmed human deaths from the
H5N1 avian virus since July.

“Up to now hundreds of chickens have died … They are
backyard chickens which had been bought from North Sumatra
province,” Bahri told Reuters by telephone, adding the outbreak
was first detected three weeks ago.

The outbreak occurred in Aceh’s eastern coast districts of
Bireuen and Pidie as well as an inland area that shares a
border with North Sumatra.

Bahri said the outbreaks had not been detected in or near
tented camps and barracks where hundreds of thousands of
survivors of the tsunami disaster are still living.

Up to 200 chickens in the infected areas had been culled
and hundreds more vaccinated to prevent the outbreak spreading.

“The most important thing is to handle the outbreak in the
first stage and isolate the areas, then God willing we will not
see transmission of the virus to humans,” Bahri added.

Millions of chickens and other birds in Indonesia have died
from the disease or been killed to prevent its spread since
bird flu was first detected in fowl in the world’s fourth most
populous country in 2003. The virus has been detected among
poultry in two thirds of Indonesia’s 33 provinces.

Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form which
can pass easily among humans and trigger a global pandemic that
could kill millions.