KOTA KINABALU: Migratory birds are believed to be the cause of bird flu in Tuaran district, the first recorded avian influenza case in Sabah.
Sabah Veterinary Services deputy director Dr Peter Lee said the department suspected wild aquatic birds during a migratory period may have spread the virus, infecting poultry at Kampung Kaulan in Tuaran.
“At the moment, we suspect migratory birds because other countries (with bird flu outbreak) are also affected by these birds. They don’t succumb to the disease but they are the carriers (of avian influenza).
“During very cold weather in northern hemisphere, these birds migrate to Asia and Australia because these regions are warmer and have food. They come with the virus and infect domestic poultry,” he said when contacted by NSTP.
Lee said it was impossible to prevent the virus from spreading, stressing the only thing the department could do was to contain the outbreak once detected.
Last Friday, the state government ordered the department, via a Tuaran district officer, to declare Kampung Kaulan as a bird flu outbreak area after tests on a chicken farm showed positive for the avian flu virus.
As of yesterday, the department has culled 3,590 chickens from the farm.
“We hope to cull 10,000 chickens by tomorrow. Today, our officers have gone to the farm to conduct the culling,” added Lee.
Once completed, he said the department would move to another farm within a kilometre radius of the affected farm to cull 28,000 chickens.
“Once we have cleared everything, the department will conduct surveillance for two months before we can declare the area safe from bird flu,” he said.
To a question whether the department will be checking on other areas, Lee said they have been carrying a year-round surveillance in all districts.
“We picked up the disease at Kampung Kaulan because there’s an increase in mortality. In other areas, there are no signs but there will be continuous surveillance,” he said.
So far no infection of the avian influenza virus has been detected among farm workers or villagers.
Following the outbreak, Sabah Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Junz Wong cautioned the people from buying live poultry from farms in Tuaran.
He, however, noted slaughtered chicken were safe for consumption as long as they were fully cooked.