Malaysia Gasses Chickens in Bird Flu Battle

Malaysia gassed hundreds of screeching birds in a village near the Thai border on Thursday, seeking a quick end to its first outbreak of bird flu, a scourge that has killed 27 people in Southeast Asia this year.

Malaysia gassed hundreds of screeching birds in a village near the Thai border on Thursday, seeking a quick end to its first outbreak of bird flu, a scourge that has killed 27 people in Southeast Asia this year.Malaysia banned exports of poultry and slapped a quarantine for 6 miles around a property where two chickens were found on Wednesday to have avian influenza.The recent deaths of three people in Vietnam have been blamed on the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. That strain was also blamed for 16 deaths there and eight in Thailand early this year.Most of this year’s cases — including recent outbreaks in China, Indonesia, Canada and South Africa — have been of strains limited to birds and initial tests suggested the Malaysian outbreak was also unlikely to cross the species barrier.Squawking chickens scampered around the village of Pasir Pekan as health officials rounded them up and stuffed them into plastic bags, into which carbon dioxide was pumped.Stunned villagers stood by watching, offering no protest as officials killed around 300 birds, including fighting fowl and magpies. The carcasses were to be burned.”We accept the decision. We don’t want our birds to cause sickness to anyone,” said 43-year-old Rubiaah Abdullah, who turned in nearly a dozen of her pets. She said her husband was indoors as he could not bear to watch.HUMANS MONITOREDMalaysia said the outbreak in northern Kelantan state, around 350 km (220 miles) northeast of Kuala Lumpur, was of the H5 strain that only affects birds.But people in the area were being monitored and the birds were being tested for any sign of the deadly H5N1 strain, said Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad, the Kelantan state executive councillor for agriculture.The World Health Organization says past human cases of bird flu have been limited to people living or working in close contact with birds, rather than by eating poultry meat or eggs.There has been some infection of health workers, but the WHO’s bigger fear is that the virus will mix with human influenza and start a new pandemic that kills millions of people.Malaysian officials said the source of the outbreak was not known, but they were eyeing the border with Thailand — the world’s fourth largest chicken exporter until bird flu hit this year, prompting a cull of more than 60 million birds.”We have been on alert ever since the outbreak in southern Thailand. All the more now, we will increase the security along the border,” Nik Mazian said.Malaysia said commercially produced poultry was safe and its export ban was just a precaution. Poultry stayed on sale in local shops.Japan had already banned Malaysian poultry after Singapore reported a suspected case of bird flu in imported live Malaysian ducks. The European Union has banned poultry and pet birds from at least nine Asian countries due to bird flu outbreaks.Bird flu scares have hit the shares of listed Malaysian poultry firms, including Leong Hup Holdings, QSR Brands, KFC Holdings and egg producer TPOC Plus.Malaysia produces 1.1 million chickens a day, mostly for domestic use. Exports take around a third of production.It’s biggest foreign market, Singapore, had been buying more than 100,000 birds and 2 million eggs a day from Malaysia. (Source: Reuters, August 2004)