Bandar Seri Begawan (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Southeast Asian kingdom of Brunei has found its first case of bird flu in a routine check of a poultry farm, which was immediately sealed off in a quarantine zone enforced by soldiers and police.
About 100 chickens that had tested positive for the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 50 people in Asia, were gassed to death and their carcasses destroyed after government agencies swooped on the farm on Thursday, health officials said. People living or working on the family-run village farm have been placed under quarantine and are being tested for bird flu infection, officials said. The results of the tests could be known as early as Saturday, they added.
Brunei, on Borneo island, is home to about 350,000 people and its near neighbours are Malaysia and Indonesia. Both have detected the H5N1 virus but so far no cases of human infection.
