17 dead birds found on Hong Kong beaches amid bird flu worries
Agence France-Presse | 02/04/2009 4:47 PM
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HONG KONG - A total of 17 dead birds have washed up on beaches on one Hong Kong island in recent days, officials said, after the H5 bird flu virus was found in two ducks and a goose.
Nine more birds were collected on Lantau island on Tuesday, including six chickens and a duck, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement.
The statement added that two birds found on Monday had tested negative for the H5 virus.
The other carcasses were highly decomposed and so more time was needed to confirm if they were carrying the disease, the statement released late Tuesday said.
Officials said on Saturday that preliminary tests of a dead goose and two dead ducks found on January 29 had tested positive for the H5 avian influenza.
There has been no indication that the virus has mutated to the deadly H5N1 strain.
H5N1 was found in a chicken at a Hong Kong poultry farm in December, prompting a cull of more than 90,000 chickens.
Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major H5N1 bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died. The deadly virus has killed about 250 people worldwide since late 2003.
