Malaysian officials have detected the outbreak of the avian flu in chickens reared at a small village in the northern Kelantan state bordering Thailand, reports said Thursday. The H5 bird flu, or avian influenza virus, was detected after a chicken died at a village in the state, said the director-general of Veterinary Services, Hawari Hussein. The government was now carrying out further tests to determine if the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, which affects humans, was present in the poultry, Hawari said. "If it is just H5 virus, it is not dangerous to humans, but if it is of N1 of N2, it can cause death," he told the official Bernama news agency late Wednesday. Hawari said the site of the outbreak and its surrounding area within 10 kilometers would be quarantined to ensure that no poultry or other birds were smuggled out of the village. "We are also waiting for the test results on whether the virus that attacked chicken in the village is similar to that that had infected chicken in Thailand," he said. About 170 of the birds, including chickens and ducks that are reared as livestock, were due to be culled Thursday. Officials have said there would be a temporary ban on poultry exports after the detection of the virus. Avian influenza outbreaks have also been reported in birds in recent weeks in Thailand, China, Indonesia and South Africa.
