# 2485
From the Jakarta Post this morning we learn that Indonesia's National Commission on Bird Flu has revealed that half of the traditional markets that slaughter and sell birds in that nation are still `highly prone' to bird flu.
Friday, November 21, 2008 8:20 PM
Half traditional markets prone to bird flu: Commission
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 11/21/2008 6:48 PM | National
The National Commission on Bird Flu has revealed that 50 percent of traditional markets that slaughter and sell chickens are highly prone to outbreaks of bird flu virus.
Head of the commission, Bayu Khrisnamurti, told tempointeraktif.com on Friday there were many such vulnerable markets in Jakarta.
Bayu said bird flu could spread easily because the markets did not set special zones for slaughtering, selling and accommodating live chickens.
Between 2002 and 2008, the Agriculture Ministry reported 13 million poultry had been culled in 31 provinces. Only two provinces -- Maluku Utara and Gorontalo --- were apparently free of the disease.
The ministry's director general of husbandry, Tjeppy D.Soedjana,said, in controlling the spread of the virus the ministry needed to focus on Banten, Jakarta, Bali, West Java, East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Maluku, Papua and Nusa Tenggara. (ewd)
