HK finds Bird Flu on Chicken Farm

The birds at the farm have already been slaughtered

The authorities in Hong Kong say they have found the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus on a chicken farm.

It is the first such discovery in Hong Kong in more than five years.

A government spokeswoman said the outbreak was probably due to an external source, possibly eggs smuggled into Hong Kong from mainland China.

Since the H5N1 virus emerged in South East Asia in late 2003, millions of birds have been culled, and more than 220 people have died.

Almost all infected people are thought to have contracted the disease from poultry.

But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form which could be easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of lives at risk.

Chickens slaughtered

The government announced on Tuesday that bird flu had been found at a farm near the border with China, and immediately ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands of chickens.

A spokeswoman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has now confirmed the strain of the virus as H5N1.

The first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans happened in Hong Kong in 1997, when six people died.

Hong Kong was also affected by the second outbreak in 2003, and farmers in the territory are now required to vaccinate their birds.