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.