More dead birds found in Hong Kong as China avian-flu fears grow

Hong Kong - Nine more dead birds have been found on beaches in Hong Kong, officials said Wednesday, as fears grew of a major unreported avian-flu outbreak in mainland China. The dead ducks, chickens and birds found on Hong Kong's Lantau island Tuesday brought to 21 the number of birds found in the past six days. Most if not all are believed to have washed up from China. Three of 12 dead birds found in the past week have so far tested positive for H5N1, the bird-flu strain that can be deadly in humans. Two other birds have tested negative. Lantau islanders said they believe the dead birds are washing ashore from China's Pearl River Delta, which flows out into the South China Sea surrounding Hong Kong. A spokesman for the Hong Kong government's agriculture and fisheries department said there were no signs of any poultry farms in the area where the dead birds were found. Tests were being conducted on the birds to see if they carry the H5N1 virus and the Hong Kong government is liaising with officials in China over the findings, the spokesman said. China has in the past hushed up outbreaks of bird flu and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was rampant in southern China before it spread to Hong Kong and other countries around the world in 2003, killing hundreds of people. Five people in China died of bird flu in January alone, two more than in the whole of 2008. Three other people were infected. A leading Hong Kong bird-flu expert, legislator Lo Wing-Lok, warned Tuesday that the discovery of the dead birds and poultry indicated 'something very terrible' could be happening in China. The World Health Organization said China has recorded a total of 38 bird-flu cases since the disease resurfaced in 2003, including 25 deaths. Hong Kong saw the first outbreak in modern times of bird flu to infect humans in 1997 when six people died and 12 others were infected but survived. Since then, it has carried out two mass culls and introduced strict market controls and border controls with China, avoiding human deaths in any of the recent bird-flu outbreaks to sweep the region.