’Fit chickens can carry bird flu’

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http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20061005.G05

'Fit chickens can carry bird flu' 
National News - October 05, 2006 
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
A healthy chicken could be a carrier of the bird flu virus although it shows no symptoms of the illness, a health official warned Wednesday.
Head of the West Java Animal Husbandry Office, Rachmat Setiadi, said the warning was made following the discovery of healthy chickens that tested positive with H5N1 virus from a serology test conducted on 20 chickens around the house of two dead flu victims -- 23-year-old IJ and his 20-year-old brother -- in Kebonwaru area, Batunggal. 
He said earlier, only chickens and ducks are believed to carry the virus. 
"The test has shown that four healthy chickens were infected with H5N1. We should be more cautious," he said Wednesday in Bandung. 
Currently, people are only made aware of the danger of bird flu when chickens die suddenly in their neighborhood, but Rachmat said healthy chickens could also be carriers. 
Out of Bandung's 26 cities and regencies, only two -- Tasikmalaya city and Ciamis regency -- are free of H5N1 virus in poultry. 
He said cases where healthy chickens were infected with bird flu had occurred not only in Bandung, but also in other cities and regencies. However, he did not name the cities or regencies. 
He recommended that residents stop keeping chickens in their backyards or near their houses. 
Meanwhile, serology tests on 11 dogs kept by the family of the bird flu cluster in Kebonwaru have came back negative, according to head of Bandung City Agriculture Office, Yogi Supardjo. 
He said the result showed that dogs could not spread the virus. 
He said his office was currently working on a public campaign in 26 districts to make people aware of the threat of bird flu following the deaths of IJ and TJ. 

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Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: ’Fit chickens can carry bird flu’ Posted: October 06 2006 at 1:59pm
	http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20061005.G05 'Fit chickens can carry bird flu' National News - October 05, 2006 Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung A healthy chicken could be a carrier of the bird flu virus although it shows no symptoms of the illness, a health official warned Wednesday. Head of the West Java Animal Husbandry Office, Rachmat Setiadi, said the warning was made following the discovery of healthy chickens that tested positive with H5N1 virus from a serology test conducted on 20 chickens around the house of two dead flu victims -- 23-year-old IJ and his 20-year-old brother -- in Kebonwaru area, Batunggal. He said earlier, only chickens and ducks are believed to carry the virus. "The test has shown that four healthy chickens were infected with H5N1. We should be more cautious," he said Wednesday in Bandung. Currently, people are only made aware of the danger of bird flu when chickens die suddenly in their neighborhood, but Rachmat said healthy chickens could also be carriers. Out of Bandung's 26 cities and regencies, only two -- Tasikmalaya city and Ciamis regency -- are free of H5N1 virus in poultry. He said cases where healthy chickens were infected with bird flu had occurred not only in Bandung, but also in other cities and regencies. However, he did not name the cities or regencies. He recommended that residents stop keeping chickens in their backyards or near their houses. Meanwhile, serology tests on 11 dogs kept by the family of the bird flu cluster in Kebonwaru have came back negative, according to head of Bandung City Agriculture Office, Yogi Supardjo. He said the result showed that dogs could not spread the virus. He said his office was currently working on a public campaign in 26 districts to make people aware of the threat of bird flu following the deaths of IJ and TJ.

poultryvet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Valued Member Joined: July 24 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 96	Post Options Post Reply Quote poultryvet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: October 06 2006 at 2:44pm
	It's unfortunate that this was a serology test for antibodies and not a test for H5N1 antigen. This could be chickens that are recovered from H5N1 (got sick in past but did not die) but that did go on to produce antibodies as they recovered. So it's certainly safe to say they were exposed and didn't die. Can't say from this whether they're still carrying and distributing virus or not - right test wasn't done for that. Would be interesting to know if anyone knew if the chickens had been sick or not. Regards,

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: October 06 2006 at 5:28pm
	PV I'm glad you read this and helped us to better understand the info presented here, thanks. I posted this not so much for the headline but for the lesson that can be learned here. Haphazard testing, incorrect testing, testing vaccinated birds and testing for expected results to further the agendas of interested parties etc. are all reasons to watch out with regards to these news stories. Sooner or later we will see more stories like this only humans will be involved with similar questionable results.