Bird flu emerges in Grobogan regency<\/p>\n
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang<\/p>\n
Bird flu has resurfaced in Indonesia, this time at an animal
\nhusbandry in Grobogan regency, Central Java province.<\/p>\n
The head of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Office at the
\nGrobogan government, Gembong Murdowo, said the bird flu case was
\ndiscovered last week at a chicken farm belonging to Suwarto of
\nKranggan Harjo subdistrict, Toroh district.<\/p>\n
After hearing reports that the farm's entire stock of 350
\nchickens were found dead, the office immediately sent the sample
\nof the dead chickens to the Pathology Laboratory at Yogyakarta's
\nGadjah Mada University, he said.<\/p>\n
Laboratory test results, received by the office on Sept. 29,
\nshowed that the chickens had died after contracting avian
\ninfluenza, or bird flu.<\/p>\n
\"The bird flu virus was of the H5N1 strain,\" said Gembong,
\nreferring to the cross-species strain harmful to humans.<\/p>\n
He said the carcasses of the 350 chickens had been cremated in
\norder to prevent the virus from spreading to chickens or humans.
\nThe office has also ordered Suwarto not to breed any new stock at
\nhis farm for the next one to three months to ensure that the
\nvirus had completely disappeared from the area.<\/p>\n
To other chicken breeders in Grobogan, the office has
\nrecommended that they vaccinate their chickens against bird flu.<\/p>\n
Gembong also urged breeders to maintain biosecurity, including
\nkeeping the coops warm and clean, and immediately isolating sick
\nor symptomatic chicken from others.<\/p>\n
Grobogan regency currently has a stock of 1.4 million
\nchickens.<\/p>\n
Gembong said bird flu disease was nothing new for breeders in
\nthe regency, as the disease had also struck its chickens last
\nyear and caused the deaths of 400,000 fowl.<\/p>\n
Data at the Central Java Animal Husbandry Office shows that
\nbird flu hit 17 of 35 regencies in Central Java province from
\nAugust 2003 to January 2004, during which some 600,000 chickens
\ndied of the disease.<\/p>",
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