# 4214
From the Wikipedia. Hong Kong is nestled at the outflow of the Pearl River and is bordered by Guangdong Province, China.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where public health authorities take notice of something as seemingly inconsequential as a single dead bird.
To understand why, you have to go back to 1997, when the H5N1 Bird Flu virus suddenly appeared in Hong Kong – infecting 18 residents and killing 6.
The source of the infection, it was discovered, was their domesticated poultry industry. It was only the complete eradication of all poultry in the territory that managed to halt what many feared could have been a disaster.
Since then, Hong Kong has kept a particularly watchful eye.
Not only on people (they test flu strains more thoroughly than perhaps anyplace in the world), but also on birds, both wild and farmed.
This heightened level of surveillance is why we are aware of rare mild H9 human infections in Hong Kong, another avian influenza. In late 2009, two such infections were detected (see Another H9 Report From Hong Kong)
And each year, Hong Kong finds at least a couple of dozen wild birds, either dead or dying, from the H5N1 virus.
In December of 2008, Hong Kong saw their first outbreak of H5N1 in domesticated poultry in nearly 6 years. This once again set off alarm bells, and sparked intense debate on how the virus managed to get past their biosecurity measures.
In January of 2009 it was announced that the H5N1 outbreak was `likely’ caused by infected migratory birds. See Wild Birds Eyed As Likely Source Of Hong Kong Bird Flu Outbreak.
Last week it was announced that a Magpie had been found dead in Hong Kong, and it was being tested for the H5N1 virus. Today we learn that test came back positive.
First the report, then a little discussion.
Oriental Magpie Robin tested H5N1 positive in HK
2010-01-04 14:16:38
HONG KONG, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department of Hong Kong said Monday that an Oriental Magpie Robin, a common resident bird in the city, found in a country park in the New Territories was confirmed H5N1 positive.
The bird carcass was found and collected on Dec. 29, 2009 near the Hok Tau Management Center in Pat Sin Leng Country Park. It was confirmed to have contracted H5N1 virus after a series of laboratory tests.
A department spokesman reminded people to avoid personal contact with wild birds or live poultry and clean their hands thoroughly after coming into contact with them.
Neighboring mainland China has a long history of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry, and in wild birds. The virus appears to be endemic in some species of migratory waterfowl, causing little or no illness in their natural hosts.
But these asymptomatic hosts are capable of spreading the virus to more susceptible hosts, including resident birds like magpies.
While surveillance and reporting from Guangdong Province are often lacking, the detection of H5N1 in dead chickens floating down the Pearl River (see The Winter Of Our Disbelief), and in migratory waterfowl (see Hong Kong Discovers Another Infected Heron) point to the mainland as an ongoing source of the virus.
The danger that humans would contract the virus from the occasional wild bird is fairly remote, but as was demonstrated in late 2008, migratory birds can introduce the virus to domestic poultry flocks.
And there, with the high density of birds and greater degree of human contact comes a better chance of human infection along with considerable containment and economic impact.
So the discovery of even a single bird infected with the virus is viewed as noteworthy in Hong Kong.
A year ago, before the novel H1N1 virus captured all of the headlines, we were watching massive outbreaks of H5N1 in Chinese poultry, and hearing repeated warnings of avian vaccine failures (see Zhong Nanshan On Asymptomatic Poultry).
Is China Making Its Bird-Flu Outbreak Worse?
By Austin Ramzy / Beijing Friday, Feb. 13, 2009
Farmers prepare to bury dead chickens on Feb. 5 in Chongqing, China, where since Jan. 30 nearly 12,000 chickens have been found dead in a local village. The cause of the deaths is still not determined
You can find more coverage on these, and other reports, in the following blogs from early 2009:
Chinese Vet Warns Of `Grave Threat' From Animal Diseases
More On The Chinese Bird Flu Mystery
Time: Is China Making Its Bird Flu Outbreak Worse?
Hong Kong Continues To Find Infected Birds
China Denies H5N1 Outbreaks In Poultry
All Eyes On Mainland China
Those H5N1 concerns have not gone away, even if they have largely disappeared from the headlines.
