Bird flu feared to have infected ducks in Bali
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.