Materia Medica Malaysiana

Bird flu checks at Malaysian poultry farms

KUALA LUMPUR (AP/dpa) - Health officials will start checking poultry farms, pet shops and bird sanctuaries near the border with Thailand to prevent a new outbreak of bird flu spreading to Malaysia, a minister said Thursday.

"Now we are on full alert - the highest level, it is red light," Malaysia's Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying by the Bernama national news agency.

Thailand and China on Wednesday confirmed new outbreaks of bird flu, which swept Asia's poultry industry and killed 24 people earlier this year. Mass culling of birds have begun, and nations in the region have gone on alert for signs of the disease.

Officials said Malaysia escaped the outbreak that hit at least 10 Asian countries earlier this year, and a ban on poultry imports from neighbouring countries remains in place.

The government will intensify security at the northern border separating the two countries to ensure that infected poultry does not enter the country, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Thai officials admitted Wednesday that avian flu, which killed eight people in the country early this year, had re-emerged.

Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Newin Chidchob said samples taken from a chicken farm in Pakhai district of Ayutthaya province, 70 kilometres north of Bangkok, confirmed the presence of the avian influenza virus.

Muhyiddin told reporters that while Malaysia has so far been free from the disease, the government will remain vigilant against any possible outbreak, he said.

The bird flu outbreak which affected some 10 Asian nations killed at least 23 people. The disease also led to the culling of millions of chickens.