Photo Credit – FAO
# 6421
From the Hong Kong government this morning, word that they’ve closed the Mong Kok Bird Garden for the next 21 days after the detection of the H5N1 virus during routine surveillance.
Hong Kong, which endured the brunt of the SARS epidemic in 2003, conducts some of the most rigorous avian flu surveillance in the world.
The press release follows:
H5N1 closes Bird Garden
July 05, 2012
The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department has shut down the Mong Kok Bird Garden for three weeks due to the detection of the H5N1 virus. It was found in a swab sample collected from a birdcage holding an Oriental magpie robin on June 25.
The department has closed the shop involved and sent its birds to the department's animal management centre in Sheung Shui to be put down. It has ordered all pet bird shop operators in the garden to thoroughly clean their stalls.
The Centre for Health Protection has put all stall operators and workers in the garden under medical surveillance. It has opened a hotline, 2125 1122, to provide health advice to the public.
Three hundred swab samples are collected per month from 39 pet bird stalls, including the 18 stalls in the Bird Garden, to test for avian flu viruses. More than 1,700 swab samples have been collected from stalls so far this year. Of the 3,200 samples tested last year, none were positive for avian influenza.
Meanwhile, a dead house crow found in Yau Yat Chuen on June 29 has tested positive for H5N1. Cleaning and disinfection in the area has been stepped up.
