Bird flu found in fowl in Indonesia's Papua province
Reuters
May 16, 2006

Indonesia has found the avian flu virus in chickens in Papua province, the first bird flu case in the archipelago's easternmost province, a senior government official said on Tuesday.


A number of fighting cocks in Manokwari regency of western Papua tested positive for the H5N1 virus in late April, prompting authorities to cull about 200 chickens, Syamsul Bahri, animal health director at the agriculture ministry, told Reuters.


"The fighting cocks might have been brought to Papua from neighbouring Sulawesi island," Bahri said. "It was the first case we had in Papua."


"We culled around 200 chickens, mostly from backyard farms around the neighbourhood where the virus was found to prevent it from spreading," he said.


Bird flu has been found in poultry in about two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces.


The latest case in poultry in Papua highlights international concern over Indonesia's ability to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed 25 people in the country and at least 115 worldwide since 2003.