Press Releases
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AFCD continues monitoring all local chicken farms closely The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said the department would continue monitoring all local chicken farms closely and keeping close contacts with chicken farmers. Deputy Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Dr Liu Kwei-kin said today (February 23): "On Wednesday, an operator of a chicken farm in Pak Sha reported to us that some chickens were dying. We immediately inspected the farm and found that about 140 chickens had died. The dead chickens were collected and sent for laboratory tests. "The test result showed that H5 virus was present in the samples. To prevent the spread of the virus, we decided to depopulate the farm. The operation was completed in the morning and about 18,000 chickens were destroyed. "This farm has no connection with the previously quarantine farm in Pak Sha. At this stage, we do not see any link between this farm and the farms in Kam Tin. We do not rule out the possibility that this is a new case not connected with the previous cases. The influenza investigation team will look into the possible causes of infection of this farm in addition to its study on the recent chicken disease incident. Dr Liu stressed that the virus isolated so far affect only live chickens. The gene sequencing tests showed that the virus was not the same as the one that affected humans in 1997. He reiterated that measures, such as the implementation of "Rest Day" at markets, had been taken to interrupt any cycle of infection in poultry to protect public health. The Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market will stop trading in the next two days (February 24 and 25) for thorough cleansing and disinfection. Poultry stalls in markets and poultry shops will also have their Rest Day on February 25. "AFCD will stay on high alert and continue monitoring chicken farms in Pak Sha area as well as those in other parts of Hong Kong. "We have reminded chicken farmers to carry out precautionary bio-security measures to prevent the virus from getting into their farms. We are also implementing the new testing protocol for local chickens at farms and at wholesale market vigilantly to prevent the virus from getting into these places," Dr Liu said. He said AFCD staff would inspect the health condition of chickens on local farms daily. He also appealed to all chicken farmers, wholesalers of live chickens, and operators of poultry stalls and shops to inform AFCD, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department or the Police about any chicken mortality or any symptoms of disease in chickens so that appropriate follow-up actions could be taken. |
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