Govt to examine backyard chickens

Govt to examine backyard chickens

Associated Press, Jakarta

Indonesian authorities will intensify surveillance of
domesticated and wild birds to determine their suspected role in
transmitting the H5N1 avian influenza virus, Minister of
Agriculture Anton Apriyantono said on Tuesday.

The government has vowed to step up efforts to tackle the
spread of the disease, examining backyard chickens and domestic
birds, believed to be the source of infection for Indonesia's
human victims.

The virus, which has killed four people and sickened three
others in the country, has taken more than 60 lives across Asia
since late 2003. Hundreds of millions of birds have also been
killed or slaughtered.

International health experts fear that if the virus mutates
into a form that is easily transmissible between people, it could
spark a pandemic, possibly killing millions.

Anton said his office would start working with the Ministry of
Forestry and the Office of the State Minister of the Environment
"to do research on wild birds and uncaged domestically raised
birds."

That would include looking at domestically bred pigeons, he
said, though he provided few details about the joint-research
proposal.

A pigeon in Jakarta's eastern suburb of Bekasi recently tested
positive for the deadly H5N1 virus, forcing the cull of 50 other
birds, Anton said.

He earlier said that discovery was alarming because of the
birds' potential to spread the disease. "We can all imagine how
long and how far pigeons can fly," he said.

Anton said inter-ministerial cooperation was essential because
laws and regulations allowed the ministry to only monitor sick
poultry.

The Office of the State Minister of the Environment had the
right to examine domestic birds, while the Ministry of Forestry
oversaw wild birds, he said.