Press Releases
Transcript of remarks by SHWF on avian influenza
Following is a transcript (English portion) of remarks made by the Secretary for
Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session at
Legislative Council Building today (February 8):
Dr Chow: In view of the number of wild birds that were tested positive for H5N1
and also the two recent chickens that were found in a backyard farm, and one (of
them is) stray chicken which we presume is also coming from some sort of
backyard farm, we feel that it is very important that we have to heighten our
alert in terms of protection of our citizens against the avian flu. So the
timely legislative change that prohibits anybody to have any chickens in their
home is very important, so I would like to appeal to anyone who are keeping
chickens in their home to try to call our Agriculture, Fisheries and
Conservation Department so that we can collect the chickens for them.
Reporter: Would you consider slaughtering all live chickens in the light of the
two infected birds?
Dr Chow: We feel that since these two chickens, one is a stray chicken and the
other is actually from a backyard farm, so we feel that our current chicken
farms in Hong Kong are still well protected. So there is no need to slaughter
all the chickens in Hong Kong. But if any of our chickens in our chicken farms
are affected, then we have to slaughter that particular chicken farm and also
the vicinity of five kilometres. And if there is more than one chicken in our
farms that are infected with H5N1, in our licenced farms, then we have to
sacrifice all the chickens in Hong Kong. That was the policy that we established
long time ago.
Reporter: What about vaccinating backyard chickens in the meantime?
Dr Chow: It is very difficult to ensure the vaccine works properly in a lot of
the backyard farms, particularly some of the chickens are kept more than a long
time, so they may be actually more than three or four months, and the vaccine
may not be working after a certain period of time. And secondly, the more
important one, is the segregation of chickens from the wild birds, and this has
been properly done in our chicken farms but not in our backyard farms or in the
homes that kept poultry. So this is very important that we have to ensure that
only licensed farms are allowed to keep chickens.
Reporter: Is the government trying to do contact tracing. Are you trying to get
hold of who have been in contact with the dead chicken?
Dr Chow: We have appealed to anyone who might be the owner of the chicken that
was abandoned to contact us to ensure that he is healthy. Particularly if he has
some symptoms of upper respiratory infection, it is very important for him to
report early.
Reporter: Is it possible the boy in the hospital has any connection with the
avian flu?
Dr Chow: No, there is absolutely no connection. The young boy actually returned
to Hong Kong from Sichuan on February 2. He had symptoms on the February 4 and
then admitted to the hospital. It is very unlikely he has contracted any of the
avian flu in Hong Kong as he is proven of such. But we should have the result
from the PCR sometime actually today.
It has just been reported that the PCR is negative for this child.
Reporter: Is there a possibility that the (dead) chicken is smuggled into Hong
Kong?
Dr Chow: We have no idea. I think it is actually difficult to presume where the
source of the chicken is. But it is important, particularly now we know that
actually four species of wild birds and also five wild birds have been tested
positive for H5N1. So we have to assume that actually the H5N1 is very endemic
among our avian population in Hong Kong.
Reporter: So you must be very concerned?
Dr Chow: I think we are all concerned, but I think we still also know that we
have done our very best to ensure that every defence line is being protected.
(Please
also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, February 8, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:28
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