Guangdong suspends live poultry shipments to HK on bird flu concerns
10/12/2008 16:21
A 21-day suspension of live poultry shipments from Guangdong Province to
Hong Kong has been imposed for fear of deadly avian flu spreading, an official
at the Guangdong Provincial Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine said today.
Live chickens, pigeons and chicks are affected.
The suspension, which became effective yesterday, does not involve frozen
poultry.
Hong Kong's Food and Health Authority has informed mainland
authorities that some 100 breeding and sentry chickens died on Sunday at one
live poultry farm in Hong Kong, where 60,000 chickens were being
raised.
Sentry chickens are deliberately left unvaccinated against bird flu
to act as warning signs of an outbreak. Hong Kong has been using this method
since 2003.
Lab work on samples from the dead birds returned positive tests
for the deadly strain of H5 virus. All the other poultry on the farm were
culled.
It was the second bird flu outbreak in Hong Kong this year. The first
was on June 6, when excrement samples collected in two live poultry markets in
Hong Kong tested positive for the deadly strain of H5N1 virus, leading to a cull
of all live poultry and trading suspension of poultry products in the
city.
Xinhua
|
