Bird flu scare over smuggled poultry: 3 in hospital
Border villagers ate a chicken they had housed with another that died of H5N1
Three people from a village near the border were in hospital isolation last night being tested for bird flu after having eaten a chicken, smuggled in from the mainland, that had been housed with another that died of the H5N1 virus.
The news fuelled fears of an outbreak among poultry on Hong Kong's doorstep in Guangdong, as preliminary tests showed another wild bird was infected with the deadly virus.
The government closed all public aviaries and the Mai Po Nature Reserve and ordered all households within 5km of the affected village in Shataukok to surrender their chickens for culling.
A 42-year-old man, his 78-year-old mother and 39-year-old cousin, from Yuen Tuen Shan village, ate the chicken - which had been housed with the infected fowl, also smuggled in from the mainland - in a Lunar New Year meal on Monday.
The infected chicken fell ill and died hours later and the family reported it to the government hotline, Centre for Health Protection consultant Thomas Tsang Ho-fai said.
The three, who are in Princess Margaret Hospital, have been given the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Preliminary results of tests for H5N1 are expected today.
Health officials said the man had 'increasing tear flow' and the cousin had a runny nose, but the mother had no symptoms.
The man told the Centre for Health Protection a relative had brought the infected chicken from Guangdong, from an 'unknown source', on January 26. The other had been brought from elsewhere in Guangdong by the mother, but the date was not clear.
Meanwhile a crested mynah, found dead in a playground in Muk Lun Street, Wong Tai Sin, tested positive for H5N1 - the first time bird flu has been found in an urban area since the last outbreak among New Territories farm chickens in 2003. It was the third case of bird flu in wild birds since an oriental magpie robin was found dead in Tai Po early last month.
The incidents prompted the closure from today of Mai Po Nature Reserve, Ocean Park aviaries, and aviaries at Hong Kong Park and Yuen Long parks. Aviaries in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens and Kowloon Park will be cordoned off.
Preliminary tests on the chicken and crested mynah showed H5N1 and tests to confirm the findings were being conducted, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department acting assistant director Thomas Sit Hon-chung said.
He could not say how the chicken were smuggled into Hong Kong, saying the Customs and Excise Department was usually vigilant. The village is just half a kilometre from the border, inside the closed area.
Dr Tsang said the centre had liaised with Guangdong health officials, who said they knew of no human or chicken cases of H5N1.
'Over 10 provinces on the mainland have reported H5N1 but so far Guangdong has not reported any outbreaks. We contacted our counterparts to see whether there are any human cases and we got the answer there are none,' he said.
Dr Sit said it was unknown where the Shataukok chicken became infected.
Veterinarian Anthony James, a member of the Advisory Council on Food Safety, said the government should take firmer action against backyard chicken farmers, as they did in the 1980s to eradicate rabies.
'[Vets] grabbed every dog and had them vaccinated. They took a heavy-handed approach, went through all villages and did not depend on voluntary surrender.'
Wan Wo-fai, a district councillor for Shataukok, said it was likely the chicken got sick in Hong Kong. 'I visited the household. It is on a small hill with several huts and the area is filled with bird droppings.'
Additional reporting by Felix Chan
