Hong Kong plans poultry ban after bird flu case on Chinese border

Jun 15, 2006, 5:04 GMT

Hong Kong - Hong Kong looked set to ban poultry imports from southern China Thursday after tests revealed that a 31-year-old man was critically ill with bird flu in the neighbouring Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Health officials in Shenzhen confirmed Wednesday that the man was suffering from the H5N1 virus. Hong Kong was awaiting official confirmation from Beijing Thursday before taking action on the ban.

The man was believed to have visited a livestock market near his home in Shenzhen and eaten slaughtered chicken before becoming ill and going to hospital on June 3.

But the World Health Organisation said so far no direct link had been found between the man and infected poultry and questioned were still left unanswered.

The case, if it is confirmed, would be China's 19th case of a human bird flu infection. Twelve of the cases have so far proved fatal.

Shenzhen lies on the border with Hong Kong and is the busiest border crossing point between Hong Kong and the mainland, with thousands of commuters passing through it every day.

China is the main supplier of live chickens to the densely populated former British colony, numbering about 30,000 coming into the city of 6.8 million.

Hong Kong announced Wednesday it had strengthened its bird-flu controls as a 'preventative measure' in response to the suspected outbreak.

A spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said no problems had been found with imported poultry or the registered farms over the border. But he said the ban would prevent a build-up of live poultry at markets caused by poor sales in light of the Shenzhen case.

He said once the case was confirmed by Beijing, the ban would cover live poultry, day-old chicks and pet birds from the Guangdong province for 21 days.

'Hong Kong would resume the import of live poultry if no more human cases were found and no H5 avian influenza outbreaks had occurred in chicken farms in Guangdong and Shenzhen,' he said.

Live chicken imports were suspended for three weeks after another human case was reported in neighbouring Guangdong province earlier this year, prompting protests and compensation demands from poultry traders.

Six people died and 12 more were infected when the virus jumped the species' barrier in Hong Kong in 1997, the first modern outbreak of bird flu among humans.