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Bird flu strikes Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh

Posted on: Friday, 25 November 2005, 02:51 CST

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.

Source: REUTERS

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