"Those dead chickens have positively been infected by bird flu virus," Imdaad Hamid said.
Samarinda, East Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Bird flu has been a threat to the East Kalimantan city of Samarinda area over the past three weeks of January, killing several hundreds of chickens.

Muslim, resident of Mugirejo village, Sungai Pinang subdistrict, told ANTARA News here Wednesday that more than a hundred chickens of his suddenly died. He suspected the bird flu virus of the main cause.

"On the first day of January, I lost thirty chickens. Until this time, I have lost more than a hundred chickens that may be infected by this virus," he said.

The skin of the dead chickens turned blue, he said adding that he had suspected that the bird flu virus was behind the death of his chickens.

"The dead chickens are directly burned before being buried. Since two days ago, local veterinarians have visited us and sprayed villagers` chicken cages. They have also given us disinfectants," he said.

East Kalimantan is one of the provinces in Indonesian, which remains vulnerable to the bird flu virus attacks.

In October 2010, the East Kalimantan city of Balikpapan government had even declared the bird flu alertness status following the deaths of 96 chickens in four villages.

"Those dead chickens have positively been infected by bird flu virus," Mayor of Balikpapan City Imdaad Hamid said in response to the sudden death of 96 chickens in four villages.

Hamid said the infected chickens belonged to local residents of four villages -- Gunung Bahagia, Sepinggan, Manggar, and Prapatan.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), avian influenza or "bird flu" is a contagious disease of animals caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs.

The WHO has warned that the infection with avian influenza viruses could spread very rapidly through poultry flocks.

Indonesia has been dealing with the bird flu cases since 2005. However, this H5N1 typed influenza is also recorded to have attacked chicken and birds in other Asian countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, China, and Viet Nam.
(Uu.R013/HAJM/S012/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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