Hong Kong Says Dead Bird Tests Positive for H5N1
Date: 20-Jan-06
Country: CHINA
The species, the Oriental Magpie Robin, is common in Hong Kong and is also often kept as pets. Officials suggested the dead bird could have contracted the disease from water fowl.
"How this wild bird got infected is still unknown. Because migratory water fowl are natural carriers of H5N1, this bird may have come into contact," said Thomas Sit, assistant director of agriculture, fisheries and conservation.
Government officials had inspected chicken farms around the place where the dead bird was discovered, but found neither unusual death rates among poultry nor abnormal signs of disease, Sit added.
The virus made its first known jump to humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six people.
The H5N1 virus has killed at least 79 people in six countries since late 2003. The victims normally contract the virus through close contact with infected birds.
"There's no call for alarm because it's just one bird," said Gail Cockrane, veterinary director at the Animal Asia Foundation.
"There's been the occasional wild bird found dead with H5N1 in Hong Kong," she said, adding it could have flown into the territory from elsewhere.