Bird Flu Strain Found in Hong Kong Matches H5N1 Found in Mainland China
Posted on: Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 03:03 CST
Text of report by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post website on 31 January
The strain of H5N1 bird flu which killed an oriental magpie robin in Tai Po this month is similar to that previously found in mainland chickens, gene sequencing has shown.
"The H5N1 genotype [in the magpie robin] has been found before, not in Hong Kong but in poultry in other regions of China. It is more poultry-like," said University of Hong Kong Associate Professor of Microbiology Guan Yi.
Genotyping of the H5N1 strain in a second oriental magpie robin found in Shataukok last week is still being conducted.
The virus "is not the dominant one", he said, referring to the strain which has spread in parts of the mainland, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.
University of Hong Kong visiting professor of microbiology Robert Webster said the detection of a second magpie robin with H5N1 in Hong Kong meant the virus was in the region. "Where the magpie robins are picking it up - whether from domestic poultry or spreading it among themselves - we do not really know the answers. Both things are probably involved," Prof Webster said.
The professor first espoused the idea that the worst flu pandemics started with a bird flu before it became "humanized".
"I do not see the risk for human infection as very high, provided people are not picking up dead birds. But it keeps us on our toes that the virus is still in the vicinity and so we have to be concerned about it," he said.
Meanwhile, just 20 chickens have been voluntarily surrendered by backyard farmers under a scheme which began in November. However, more than 1,300 backyard chickens have been vaccinated, a spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said.
Backyard farms are thought to have contributed to the spread of H5N1 in birds on the mainland, in Turkey, Russia and Indonesia.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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