Malaysia declares itself bird-flu free
Posted in: zjnq.com Date: March 10th, 2010
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia : Malaysia on Thursday declared itself free of bird flu, saying there had been no outbreaks of the deadly disease for the past three months but it would remain on high alert.
"Malaysia is now free of the H5N1 virus after three months since the last infection," Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told a press conference.
"Our surveillance has shown that there are no outbreaks," he said.
"So today we declare Malaysia free of the bird flu virus."
However, the minister said that with the disease still spreading in neighbouring Indonesia, bans on imports of birds and eggs from affected countries would remain in place.
"Even though we declare today we are free, we must remain alert because the disease is still found in our neighbouring countries. The threat is still there," he said.
Malaysia reported a rash of outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain from February when it appeared in free-range chickens in villages near the capital Kuala Lumpur, triggering the slaughter of tens of thousands of poultry.
Since then, the country has suffered five other outbreaks of the virus among poultry in the northern states of Perak and Penang.
After the February outbreak authorities set up a surveillance area in a 10-kilometre (6.2 mile) radius including the landmark Petronas Twin Towers and the National Zoo.
The H5N1 strain has killed more than 100 people in nine countries since 2003. Scientists fear a global pandemic if the virus mutates and becomes easily transmissible between humans.
There have been no human deaths in Malaysia.
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