No Cases Of H5N1 Reported - Tajuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- No news cases of H5N1 bird influenza outbreak has been reported in the country, including in Kelantan so far, the Dewan Negara (the upper house of Parliament of Malaysia) sitting was told Thursday. Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said however the monitoring operations were still being actively carried out by the Veterinary Services Department (JPV) in efforts to curb the outbreak. “JPV at the state level has been directed to oversee and monitor the movement of poultry from within and outside the country to detect H5N1 outbreaks. “The department also implemented the National Sampling Programme to make it compulsory to notify on animal diseases and those with an economic impact,” he said during the oral question session. He was replying to Senator Syed Ibrahim Kader who asked the ministry on the measures that had been taken by the government to ensure poultry was safe to be consumed and commercial poultry operations under control. Tajuddin said the outbreak, which previously occurred in Kelantan, only involved free range chicken in backyard farming and not affected commercial broilers. “Following the first case detected on Feb 28 in Kampung Pulau Tebu and Mukim Tunjung, Kelantan, the department was mobilised to take immediate action to control the situation,” he said. He said one of the control measures taken was to implement stamping out works on poultry within a radius of one kilometre from the site of infection to prevent the risk of disease transmission to other birds and humans. Disinfection was also done after the stamping out works were carried out at the premises rearing these poultry to destroy the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus,” he said. Prior to this, Kelantan was declared as H5N1 outbreak area after the six districts were hit by the epidemic in Kota Baharu, Pasir Mas, Tumpat, Tumpat, Bachok and Pasir Puteh. The epidemic was believed to be caused by fighting cocks, either from the country or neighboring countries. -- BERNAMA