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update:Oct 24, 2006
Indonesia moving on AI: poultry to be caged
Indonesia has begun what its government acknowledges will be
a monumental and difficult task in the fight against bird flu - demanding that
poultry in urban areas are caged.
Indonesia has a
bird
flu death toll of 55 people - the highest count in the world.
Indonesia's Health
Ministry head Siti Fadilah Supari said that caging birds was “a measure we
have to take to be free from bird flu. It's urgent and must be done as soon as
possible.â€
No timeframe was given, however, and the plan will almost certainly face
resistance from the owners of the nations' hundreds of millions of backyard
birds.
"We will start by demanding that poultry be kept in cages in urban areas,"
he said. "If chickens are found walking free, then officials have the right to
seize them."
While most of the human deaths from the virus can be traced back to contact
with infected birds, the WHO still fears the virus could mutate into a form that
easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic.
Indonesia has attracted international criticism for not doing enough to
stamp out the virus in its vast poultry stocks, and was told in August it would
have to boost its own spending before receiving more foreign help.
David Nabarro, the
United Nations' coordinator for avian and pandemic influenza,
said in the weeks that followed that significant progress had been made, with
the government working hard to warn citizens of the dangers posed by the
virus
Editor WorldPoultry
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