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  Channel NewsAsia 25 Jan 07
Malaysia issues top bird flu alert

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has issued its highest-level warning on the possibility of another bird flu outbreak in the country after the disease emerged in several regional nations.

Malaysia suffered a rash of outbreaks of avian influenza among poultry in early 2006, but there have been no human cases and the nation declared itself free of the disease last June.

Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said monitoring programmes had yet to find any sign of the disease in Malaysia.

"Several preventive measures have been taken including banning the import of chicken, ducks and birds from countries actively and mildly affected by bird flu," he said in a statement late Wednesday. Muhyiddin said tight security had been imposed at border checkpoints where poultry and by-products were known to be brought in illegally.

Neighbouring Indonesia is the epicentre of the bird flu resurgence, with other outbreaks in Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. China has reported its first human case in six months.

Scientists fear bird flu will mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, sparking a pandemic that could potentially kill millions.

Indonesia has launched a new effort to battle bird flu, with a ban on backyard poultry and moves to shift markets and slaughter houses away from residential areas after five human deaths so far this year.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed almost 160 people worldwide since late 2003. - AFP
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