VARIOUS: Concern over the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry has rippled across Asia

Concern over the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus in poultry has rippled across Asia, with Indonesian hospitals struggling to cope with suspected human cases this week, and the virus spreading among flocks in Vietnam and flaring again in Thailand. Many people in Indonesia's crowded cities, including the capital Jakarta, keep backyard poultry and birds for food and as pets. The concern has led to Indonesia formally announcing that it plans to enforce a ban on backyard poultry in high risk areas to curb the spread of the disease. The strain has killed 61 people in this country, four just in the past one week. "We won't allow the rearing of non-commercial poultry in residential areas in the high risk regions," Indonesian Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie announced on Monday (January 15). The World Health Organisation (WHO) said so far there have been no signs of the virus spreading between humans and the response of most affected countries was much better than in the past, but called on countries to continue surveying the problem and educate the public on how to deal with the strain. Speaking from his office in Manila, WHO spokesman for the Asia-Pacific, Peter Cordingley, said the battle was far from over. "A lot of countries have done very well. Their defences are better, the reaction is better, the surveyance is better. But if we want to describe this as a soccer game, I would say we are still in the first half and the virus is winning 5-2," Cordingley said. Meanwhile in Thailand officials have announced that the country has suffered its first outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in six months. The high level of concern has led to Thailand's Ministry of Public Health setting up a "war room" to handle the outbreak. The Department of Disease Control is entrusted with a 24-hour operation for monitoring and surveying the spread of the virus. The ministry has also prepared some 800,000 capsules of medication to help bring the spread of the virus under control, if necessary. Vietnam, which has had no human H5N1 cases since November 2005, is also battling new outbreaks in poultry in the Mekong Delta. Hong Kong is also clamping down on measures against the disease. The country has been urged by health experts to tighten imports of wild birds from China, which are released en masse at Buddhist religious rites, due to the risk they could spread bird flu to poultry. Six scaly-breasted munias -- a popular species of "prayer birds" used for release in Buddhist rituals to enhance a devotee's karma -- were found dead in a busy shopping on New Year's eve, including one which tested positive for the H5N1 virus. The WHO said stronger measures to control the virus in poultry in many countries meant there was a lower risk of individual human infection from the H5N1 virus. But it added that a pandemic risk would persist as long as the virus remained in circulation.

ITN Source | January 17, 2007

Tags:. .struggling. .affected. .asia. .lower. .crowded