Bird flu feared to have infected ducks in Bali

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Tabanan, Bali

Bali's bird flu looks to have spread to ducks, with some 3,000 of the birds displaying symptoms of the virus before they died, the island's animal husbandry office said.

Provincial head Ida Bagus Raka said while the evidence looked bad, his office had not yet determined conclusively whether the ducks had avian influenza, or the dangerous H5N1 strain of the virus.

"At the moment we are still waiting for laboratory tests conducted on several carcasses of infected ducks," Ida Bagus told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.

Bali authorities slaughtered thousands of flu-infected chickens on Friday, marking the start of a nationwide culling of 10 million chickens to stop the spread of the virus.

The resort island is one of 10 provinces hit hardest by the outbreak. The government has confirmed the H5N1 virus has caused the deaths of millions of chickens across the country.

Ida Bagus said a sickness in ducks was first noticed early this month at several farms at Jembrana, in the island's western coastal regency, where the duck population totaled about 44,000.

The unknown virus had an incubation period of between one and three days and it took only a short time to infect the whole farm, he said.

The office had taken several security measures, including regularly monitoring the farms and limiting human access to the infected places.

"We cannot apply any vaccines since the virus has not been identified yet," Ida Bagus said.

Meanwhile, Hindu followers in Bolangan, Utu and Senganan -- three hamlets in Tabanan at the center of the bird flu -- held a Pecaruan Durmanggala purification ritual, burning around 2,500 infected chickens.

"The ritual is aimed at purifying and cleansing the areas from the evil impact of avian influenza," pemangku (temple priest) Rajapati said.

Several farmers said they believed the ritual would stave off any further infections in the future.

"I believe that after this ritual there will be no virus infection again," Wayan Sujaya, who lost 4,000 chickens, said.

The Tabanan administration has planned to burn a total of 216,900 infected chickens in the next few days.