Malaysia faces bird flu quarantine<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Three children exposed to the carcasses of culled chickens
\nwere hospitalized with flu-like symptoms Wednesday as Malaysia
\nmulled whether to widen a quarantine to cover an entire state
\nnear the Thai border to contain a spreading bird flu outbreak.<\/p>\n
The children, ranging from 4 to 14, were in an isolation ward
\nundergoing tests for bird flu after they complained of headaches,
\ncough and fever to workers conducting house-to-house checks in
\ntheir village in Kelantan state, said Ramlee Rahmat, a senior
\nhealth official.<\/p>\n
No Malaysians have yet been infected by the deadly H5N1 strain
\nof bird flu - which has killed 28 people in Thailand and Vietnam
\n- but the disease had defied efforts to eradicate it since
\nerupting Aug. 17 in Kelantan in fighting cocks smuggled from
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has screened some 10,000 people for signs of the
\ndisease and gassed thousands of chickens, ducks and pet birds to
\nstop it spreading.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the flu for the first time jumped the limited
\nquarantine zone that had been declared in a 10-kilometer (six-
\nmile) radius around the tiny village where the disease was
\ndiscovered last month, and officials said the quarantine zone
\ncould be spread statewide.<\/p>\n
\"We will have no choice but to enlarge the quarantine area if
\nthe number of new bird flu cases in Kelantan continues to
\nincrease,\" Muhyiddin Yassin, the agriculture minister, was quoted
\nas saying in the New Straits Times newspaper Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"This is to prevent the virus from spreading to other parts of
\nthe country and becoming a national outbreak,\" Muhyiddin said.<\/p>\n
Malaysian authorities suspect that the most recent outbreak
\nmay have had similar origins to the first - fighting cocks
\nsmuggled back and forth from Thailand in defiance of increasingly
\nstrict border controls.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has urged villagers to
\nkeep their fighting birds within the state.<\/p>\n
Increased friction has been reported and police intervened
\nMonday to protect inspectors from sickle-wielding villagers upset
\nthat pet peacocks were being gassed.<\/p>",
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