Dead birds on Hong Kong beaches test positive for avian flu

Feb 5, 2009, 3:04 GMT

   Hong Kong - Three birds believed to have washed up on beaches in Hong Kong after dying in China have tested positive for H5N1, the bird-flu strain that can be deadly in humans, officials said Thursday.

   The goose and two ducks were found on a beach on Lantau island last week and were among a tide of dead birds being washed ashore in the former British colony.

   Two more dead chickens were found on the coast of Lantau Wednesday, officials said, bringing to 23 the number of birds found in the past six days. Most if not all were believed to have washed up from China.

   The appearance of the dead birds has sparked fears that China is in the grips of a large unreported outbreak of avian flu. Five people died of China in January alone of the disease, two more than in all of 2008.

   Six of the birds found in Hong Kong in the past week have so far tested positive for H5N1. Two other birds have tested negative and tests on the other birds are continuing.

   The dead birds were believed to be washing ashore from China's Pearl River Delta, which flows out into the South China Sea surrounding Hong Kong. There are no poultry farms on Lantau island.

   China has in the past hushed up outbreaks of bird flu and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was rampant in southern China before it spread to Hong Kong and other countries around the world in 2003, killing hundreds of people.

   Officials in China have admitted that five people died of bird flu in January, but experts in Hong Kong said they now suspect there might be a large-scale, unreported outbreak among birds and poultry in China.

   The World Health Organization said China has recorded 38 human bird-flu cases, including 25 deaths, since the disease resurfaced in 2003.