Reuters AlertNet Lite - Hong Kong says more birds test positive for H5N1

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Hong Kong says more birds test positive for H5N1

22 Jan 2007 11:45:35 GMT
Source: Reuters

HONG KONG, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hong Kong confirmed on Monday that three more dead birds found in the city carried the H5N1 virus, the third such case this month in the wealthy city.

The carcasses of the trio of birds -- a Japanese White-eye, a House Crow and a White-backed Munia -- had been picked up last week and subjected to a battery of tests, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement.

It did not elaborate.

Since the start of the year, authorities had confirmed H5N1 in two dead birds -- a Crested Goshawk and a Scaly-breasted Munia -- found dead in the bustling shopping district of Causeway Bay on New Year's Eve.

Hong Kong periodically finds H5N1-infected wild birds, but the infected munia marked the first case in 10 months. Seventeen wild birds tested positive for H5N1 in Hong Kong in 2006.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus made its first known jump to humans in Hong Kong in 1997, killing six people and leading to a mass culling of poultry. But it has not been able to pass easily from human to human, although experts fear the virus could mutate and cause a pandemic, potentially killing millions.

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Last updated:Mon Jan 22 11:47:48 2007