# 906
It doesn't sound like much: so far, a single infected bird in a pet shop in Hong Kong. Asymptomatic, and no other birds showing signs of illness.
Were it not for routine testing, no one would have noticed.
Of course, the wrinkle in all of this is the infected bird shows no signs of illness. And that could be a very bad sign. Sick and dying birds are sentinels, they tip us off that something is amiss; and so we take precautions and begin testing.
Without that warning, we have a stealthy virus, with the potential of spreading undetected. In recent weeks we've heard similar accounts from Indonesia, and in China, some of the human infections have occurred in areas that have not reported outbreaks in birds.
There is now heated debate over whether to cull all of the birds in the area where this infected bird was found. So far, they are waiting on testing.
Infected bird a `serious' warning
Carol Chung
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The bird that was left in a Mong Kok pet shop and whose droppings tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus could be the prelude to "something more serious," and a complete culling of birds in the area is necessary, an infectious disease expert has warned.
Lo Wing-lok said he was worried because the Daurian starling has shown no symptoms of bird flu.
"Asymptomatic H5N1 carriage can be the prelude to something more serious," he said.
However, Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department assistant director Thomas Sit Hon-chung said the government has no plan to kill all the birds in the cluster of pet shops on Yuen Po Street, better known as "Bird Street," but will continue to monitor the situation.
A customer had left the infected bird for sale at one of the shops about two weeks ago, and AFCD officers are desperately trying to trace him.
The department had earlier taken a swab of the bird's droppings for tests that turned out to be positive for the virus. Some 300 birds from the same shop have been seized and taken to the department's management center in Sheung Shui for observation.
"They've found one case so far, but other birds in the area may have already been infected," Lo said.
He criticized the authorities for "bowing to pressure" from business establishments by implementing "half- baked" measures against bird flu.
"The government says it's closing down Bird Street until further notice, but shop tenants can still be seen walking in the area without putting on any special clothing. Some have been seen feeding the birds, and this is extremely risky if the birds are infected," Lo said.
"The government should kill all the birds in all the shops on Bird Street once and for all.
"One infected case is enough for the disease to spread. We should not wait for the test results."
He cited previous incidents, including the first bird flu outbreak in the territory in 1997, in which the authorities waited for virus test results before deciding on a mass cull of poultry. Six people died in that outbreak.
Lo urged the government to consider the welfare of the merchants affected by the latest case and offer them compensation.
Michael Chan Chi-wai, a microbiologist at Hong Kong University, disagreed that there should be a mass cull. He said a cull would be justified only if other birds in the area are found to have been infected.
