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Second Indian state reports H5N1 |
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UCHHAL (India), Sat. --- Five dead chickens at two poultry farms in India’s western Gujarat state were infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, government officials said today. The dead birds were discovered at farms in the Uchhal area of Gujarat, local administrator A.V.Vader said. Officials have been testing poultry in the area after the virus was found in two dead chickens at one of the farms. They have not said when the dead birds were found. They also claimed that the situation is under control. Both farms were shut down today. Uchhal is a few kilometers across the border from Navapur, a farming region in neighboring Maharashtra State where the country’s first outbreak of the disease last week prompted the culling of hundreds of thousands of birds. About 90,000 birds have been culled across 22 villages since the outbreak in Gujarat, with more birds destroyed today, the regio’s administrator, Vatsala Vasudev, said. |
Uchhal, about 210km from the state capital Gandhinagar, sits on a highway that connects major towns and cities in western India. In Hong Kong, a dead magpie is suspected of having the H5 strain of the bird flu virus after preliminary testing, the Government said today. It was not immediately known if the bird had the virulent H5N1 strain. Further tests are being carried out, it said in a statement. The dead bird was reported to Hong Kong authorities yesterday. Hong Kong has recorded 13 cases of H5N1 in birds this year, including three new cases announced yesterday. The Government yesterday also announced a suspected case in a dead house crow. No human cases have been reported in Hong Kong. The first cases occurred near the border with mainland China and later ones were reported in urban areas. |
In Berlin, H5N1 has been detected in a wild duck found dead in southern Germany near the Swiss border. The bird was found beside Lake Constance in the town of Uberlingen, according to Bade-Wurtemberg State Agriculture Minister Minister Peter Hauk. Officials had earlier announced that the duck had avian flu but had not confirmed it was the highly pathogenic strain. This is the first time southern Germany has been hit by the virus, which has already been found in more than 100 wild birds along the Baltic Sea in the north. Eight nations in the European Union --- Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia --- have reported cases of H5N1. --- Agencies.
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