Bird flu hits Bali
01/08/2006 10:59  - (SA)  

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Bali - Hundreds of dead chickens found on Indonesia's Bali island resort have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, an animal health official said on Tuesday.

Around 300 birds died of the virus over the past week, said I Gusti Ngurah Sandjaja in Bali's westernmost Jembrana district.

"We have carried out a rapid test and found that they were positively infected by the bird flu virus," Sandjaja said. "Fortunately, there are no indications that the virus has spread to humans here."

Indonesia, a vast archipelago comprising nearly 18 000 islands, has posted 42 human deaths since July 2005 and is tied with Vietnam as the world's hardest-hit country.

The World Health Organisation has said that limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred in a family on Sumatra island, the location of the world's largest cluster of human infections.

Health authorities were forced to cull large numbers of ducks and chickens on Bali earlier this year after birds became ill.

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