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Malaysia culls poultry to halt avian flu spread

Malaysia has confined bird flu to three villages near its capital as teams of government workers and volunteers cull flocks of chickens and ducks to stamp out the H5N1 virus, officials said yesterday.

Malaysia has reported no human cases of the infection, but Wednesday's incident was the first time avian influenza had been found in the nation since March 21 last year when several chickens tested positive for the virus.

The disease had been limited to three villages after authorities culled about 8,000 ducks and chickens in the central state of Selangor, where the virus was found, a health official said.

"All precautionary measures have been taken, bird flu has been localized," said Lim Thuan Seng, a state health official.

Malaysian commercial farms have not been hit by bird flu, but Singapore has suspended imports of chicken and eggs from Selangor. Shares of Malaysian poultry and fast food firms fell as much as 4 percent yesterday.

Authorities have alerted medical centers in a 10km quarantine area around the site of the incident to watch for people with symptoms of virus infection, Lim said.

"Right now, we are putting medical clinics and the people on alert on possible infections," Lim said. "But there are no cases of humans getting infected."

"We are closely monitoring the area. There is no reason to be alarmed. Everything is under control," Veterinary Services Department chief Kamarudin Mohammed Isa said.

Volunteers wearing rubber gloves and masks, and some even with bare hands, went from village to village catching chickens as they scrabbled about on farms and in people's homes.

"It is easier to catch them at night, in the morning they are very active and they run very fast," a veterinary worker said as he put a squawking bird into a plastic bag.

"We have finished most of the chickens in this area and now we are looking for the remaining ones," said G. Krishnamoorthy, a member of a veterinary team.

Health authorities were alerted by a poultry farmer whose flock of 67 chickens dropped dead in batches over the past week despite being fed medicine, the New Straits Times newspaper said.

"The medicine did not work and they kept dying until none was left," former railwayman Udzuluddin Abd Karim, 71, who has been rearing chickens since 1975, told the paper.

After the carcasses of his last two chickens were confirmed to have bird flu, authorities swung into action, spraying the chicken coop with disinfectant and ordering check-ups for Karim's family that gave them a clean bill of health.
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