# 1660
For the third time this year, Hong Kong authorities have discovered a dead heron that was killed by the H5N1 bird flu virus. Herons are migratory waterfowl that travel from mainland China to Hong Kong during the Winter.
Authorities are also investigating a dead magpie robin found early this week in a local market that they too believe had the H5N1 virus. Further tests are pending.
Last year Hong Kong detected 21 infected birds in their 426 sq. mile territory. As you can see by the insert in the map above, except for mainland China, Hong Kong is fairly isolated from the rest of the world.
Guangdong province, directly to Hong Kong's north, has been the site of a number of bird flu outbreaks in poultry, and a handful of human cases as well.
With a landmass 160 times greater than Hong Kong, one would suspect Guangdong province harbors a fair number of infected wild birds. If so, we rarely hear about them. Whether this is due to a lack of surveillance and testing, or simply a failure to report, is unknown.
Hong Kong, the site of the first known outbreak of human H5N1 infection, remains particularly vigilant.
Dead gray heron in Hong Kong tests positive for bird flu
HONG KONG (AP) -- A dead gray heron found in Hong Kong tested positive for the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, the third such case this year in the territory, the government said Thursday.
Tests confirmed the bird had the H5N1 virus after it was discovered near the territory's border with mainland China last Friday, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said in a statement.
The gray heron is a water bird that frequently visits Hong Kong in the winter.
The city's famed Mai Po bird sanctuary and aviaries in popular Ocean Park were closed for three weeks in late January after two bird carcasses found nearby were infected with the virus.
An oriental magpie robin found Monday in a wholesale food market was also suspected of having died from bird flu. Further tests were being conducted.
Last year, Hong Kong discovered 21 wild birds with H5N1, but the territory has not suffered a major outbreak of the disease since 1997, when the virus killed six people, prompting the government to slaughter the entire poultry population of about 1.5 million birds.
