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Hong Kong clears three villagers of bird flu infection

Three people in Hong Kong who came into contact with a chicken infected with bird flu smuggled from mainland China tested negative for the virus but remained isolated at a hospital yesterday.

Authorities also shut aviaries and a nature reserve after confirming that a crested myna found in a downtown playground also died of bird flu.

Hong Kong has found bird flu in dead wild birds in recent weeks, but it was the first time the disease was detected in a chicken.

A villager and his family came into contact with a chicken obtained from a relative from neighboring Guangdong Province on Jan. 26, officials said. The bird showed symptoms of bird flu four days later, died and later tested positive for the virus, said Thomas Sit (薛漢宗), acting assistant director of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

The sick chicken did not appear to have mingled with any other birds since the villager did not raise other chickens at his house, said Thomas Tsang (曾浩輝), a Health Department consultant. Mainland poultry must be inspected and issued with health certificates before they can be imported into Hong Kong.

Preliminary tests showed that the three villagers all tested negative for bird flu, the department said in a statement. Further tests were being conducted.

Tam Kwok-keung, a Health Department spokesman, said the department had contacted Guangdong health authorities.

Jia Youling (賈幼陵), director of the veterinary bureau of China's Agriculture Ministry, said the situation was being studied but stressed that no bird flu outbreaks have been reported on the mainland in the past 25 days.

"We have already called off all quarantines," Jia said by telephone from his Beijing office.
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