Warning to poultry owners: Six months’ jail and RM500 fine for refusal to co-operate

NST: Poultry owners in the bird flu-infected areas in Gombak who refuse to hand over their birds to the authorities can be sent to jail.
This warning was issued by Veterinary Services Department deputy director-general Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin, who said those who refused to co-operate in efforts to contain the bird flu outbreak were breaking the law.
Although no one had been hauled up so far, he said it did not mean the department would not enforce the law.
“We can take action. Taking action against offenders is not a problem,” he said at a Press conference at the City Hall Health Department in Setapak today.
Offenders may be charged under Section 90 of the Animal Ordinance 1953, which carries upon conviction a six-month jail term or RM500 fine or both.
Dr Aziz was speaking after a house-to-house search for chickens, with Indonesian workers’ kongsi as the main target, in Gombak.
“Our focus is to locate fighting cocks believed to be hidden by Indonesian workers in their kongsi and quarters.”
He said the operation had been quite successful as to date, some 3,000 chickens had been caught in the area.
Dr Aziz said he was confident the four villages within a 1km radius of the bird flu-infected area off Jalan Genting Klang — Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ — were now relatively free of chickens.
“Within that zone, the situation is under control. There is no need to worry. No ducks, no birds. We just need to monitor that no chickens from outside are brought in. For this, we need the help of the local authority.”
Dr Aziz said a large team would be deployed for a further search tonight but declined to name the areas involved.
He said other strategies to round up birds in the affected zone were being devised.
Yesterday, the department introduced the use of blowpipes to shoot chickens resting in the trees, but the results were not encouraging.
“Tonight, we are going after the ‘superchickens’. These are the clever chickens, the ones that fly high and far.
“Now that we understand their behaviour, we can catch them using a different strategy,” said Dr Aziz.
“Also, we may have to conduct checks at daybreak as the roosters’ crows will give away their position.”
On the source of the bird flu, Dr Aziz said it was not as critical as rounding up all birds from the infected areas.

More info on bird flu soon

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: An announcement on the avian flu situation in Setapak here will be made in two weeks, said Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek.
He said the announcement would be made by the Veterinary Services Department as the matter involved fowls.
Dr Chua said passive surveillance on the area where the infected fowls were detected started last Saturday and would last two weeks before the situation is assessed again.
Passive surveillance means that the Government would act upon information, he added.
Active surveillance was carried out from Feb 20 for five days. A total 854 households were visited and 3,120 occupants interviewed within a 300m radius from where the infected fowls were detected.
He said there was no new case admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital here as of yesterday afternoon when the five who were warded earlier for suspected avian flu had been discharged.
Prior to this, 10 patients were also discharged after they tested negative.
Dr Chua said the admission was a precautionary measure, adding that there was still no clinical evidence that the disease could spread from human to human like SARS.
He urged the public not to be swayed by rumours.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) has distributed 5,000 leaflets containing background and information on how to prevent bird flu.
The leaflets were distributed to residents within a 10km radius from the location along Jalan Genting Klang where 40 chickens died of the H5N1 virus.
Some 55 MRCS volunteers went around Jalan Genting Klang, Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Datuk Keramat to hand out the leaflets yesterday.
MRCS operations director Mohd Kamal Omar said this was in line with the Health Ministry’s move to educate the public about the disease.
He said two MRCS ambulances were on 24-hour stand-by to transfer anyone with flu symptoms to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
“As a precautionary measure, we are not differentiating between ordinary flu and bird flu,” he said.

MMA: Glut of doctors by 2020

NST: It might not be easy to make a decent living in private medical practice by 2020.
The Malaysian Medical Association sees a worrisome glut of doctors by then, judging by present enrolments in medical courses here and abroad.
Datuk Dr N. Athimulam, chairman of the MMA’s committee on medical education, observed that 1,200 new doctors graduated annually from local institutions, with seven more institutions of higher learning going to offer medical courses in the next few years.
Dr Athimulam said universities in Ukraine and Russia were producing about 15 to 20 Malaysian doctors now, but several hundred students were in their third, fourth and fifth years of study.
The seven new colleges in the offing are Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Islamic University College Malaysia, Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology, Alliance College and Monash University Sunway Campus.
Dr Athimulam said the current doctor-population ratio of 1:1,361 was going to rise to 1:400 by 2020.
“At that ratio, doctors are going to be clamouring for patients. When the competition gets tougher, unscrupulous practices may set in.”
There are about 17,000 doctors nationwide today, 40 per cent of whom are in government service.
“Already the market is saturated. New doctors entering the market are finding it harder to stay in the business.”
The Malaysian Medical Council’s 2004 annual report states that at the current rate of growth, there would be a surplus of about 4,000 doctors in 2020.
Dr Athimulam urged the Government to “go slow” on permits for institutions of higher learning to conduct medical courses.
Meanwhile, MMC secretary Dr Wan Mazlan Mohamed Woojdy said degrees from some of the new institutions would only be recognised after five years of operation.

No Human Cases Of Bird Flu, Says Chua

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 (Bernama) — No one has been infected by the H5N1 virus since further tests on 15 people from the jalan Genting-Kelang area who were warded at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), were found to be negative, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek announced Sunday.
He said the ministry since yesterday ended its active surveillance, which began in the 300 metre area at the incident where 40 chickens were confirmed to have died of the avian influenza virus last Sunday.
Instead, the ministry starting yesterday, began a passive surveillance whereby ministry personnel no longer conducted house-to-house checks except for cases where residents of an area had symptoms of the virus, he said to reporters at a ceremony to mark MCA’s 57th anniversary at Wisma MCA here today.
Dr Chua said the passive surveillance would be continued for another two weeks.
The prevention and control operation conducted by the ministry together with other government agencies on 3,120 occupants of 854 houses in the 300 metre area, found no infection involving humans.
“As of yesterday, the total number of those suspected (still warded at HKL, the designated hospital for bird flu cases) were five people, that is, three children and two adults. Test results on the five were negative, and we hope that all five are allowed to go home today,” he said.
Yesterday, Health Services Director General Datuk Dr Mohd Ismail said five people including three girls aged 4, 13 and 14, as well as a 44-year old man and a 40-year old woman, were admitted to the HKL’s special ward Friday night after they showed symptoms of the deadly H5N1 virus infection, that is fever, cough and flu.
Dr Chua asked members of the public especially those residing in the Klang Valley not to be influenced by the wild rumours circulating that the bird flu virus had infected the people in the area.
“I would like to stress that the bird flu virus had not infected the people. I would like to assure that based on the Cabinet directive, we will give information on a transparent and open manner, and will not hide any cases related to bird flu,” he said.
He said those reported so far were suspected cases based on information that they were residents of the area where 40 chickens had been infected with bird flu, and steps to ward them at the HKL, were only precautionary measures.
” After test results were found negative, the patients were allowed to return home,” he said.

Sabah Vets On Bird Flu Alert

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 26 (Bernama) — All veterinary officers in Sabah have been told to carry out inspections on farms breeding chickens and other birds statewide following a report that seven chickens were found dead in Kampung Bukit Permai, Menggatal, yesterday.
State Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail said the immediate measure was crucial in ensuring Sabah remain free of bird flu.
“We’ve sent officers to Kampung Bukit Permai to take samples and bring them to a test laboratory in Kepayan.
“Even though the test result is negative, we’ve to take precautionary measures. I want all veterinary officers to inspect all areas that keep chickens stage by stage,” he told Bernama here Sunday.
Besides that, bird controls and inspections at all entry points in Sabah would be tightened, he added.
Abdul Rahim also said Putrajaya yesterday informed the state authority of a report about the death of over 150 chickens in Kuala Penyu.
“Once informed, two special teams comprising veterinary officers, were rushed to Kuala Penyu but they have not been able to locate the farm. Probably it was a hoax,” he said.
He advised the public not to worry as the ministry was closely monitoring the situation and would take all efforts to deal with the possible spread of bird flu to Sabah.
He said the ministry planned to organise a simulation session involving various government departments including the customs and immigration in the middle of next month in Tawau to strengthen the cooperation in preventing an outbreak of bird flu.

Migratory Birds In Sarawak Free Of Avian Flu

KUCHING, Feb 26 (Bernama) — Migratory birds stopping to feed in the Buntal Peninsula, about 40km from here and near the popular Santubong beaches, were found free of avian flu in a recent census.
The census was conducted by the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Kuching Branch in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Medical Faculty’s microbiology department late last year.
Kuching MNS chairman Oswald Braken said Sunday the census recorded 230 species of birds in the forests and surrounding coastlines of the peninsula.
Such migratory birds were normally heading back north during the months of January and February after flying south before winter in search of feeding grounds, he told Bernama on the sidelines of a dialogue session with the media on the Santubong Peninsula organised by Kuching MNS.
Braken, who is also the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) senior manager for biodiversity conservation, said another census on shore birds conducted by SFC in the coastal areas of Sematan at the southern tip of Sarawak also came up with negative results.
He said the Sematan census, which recorded 2,000 birds, was done between Dec 31 last year and Feb 10 as part of the biodiversity conservation effort.

Using an old method to deal with a new menace

NST: To achieve a “bird-free” zone around Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, the Veterinary Services Department tonight resorted to a rather unconventional method — a blowpipe.
Mohd Ulang Tipak, an Orang Asli from Gombak who is a VSD employee, was asked to test the efficiency of a blowpipe on chickens hiding in trees, using darts with tips laced with an anaesthetic.
However, the anaesthetic, which was a combination of medicine strong enough to knock out horses, proved ineffective.
“We had to chase the chickens which fell from the trees until the medicine took effect. We only managed to catch five or six, as there were times when I missed. Also, I did not know there would be so many chickens here and prepared only a few darts.”
The 43-year-old Orang Asli said he needed help from two or three more of his friends to get the work done.
Ulang, though, may not get the opportunity as it is understood that the VSD is set to use small-calibre rifles tomorrow to flush the birds from the trees.
Meanwhile, starting as early as 7.30am, 40 swab teams swung into action for the third day to take fowl samples outside the one-kilometre radius.
Starting from the Veterinary Management Institute in Kajang, the teams, made up of five members each, set out to collect cloacal swabs from chickens, geese, ducks and other birds.
One such team was Team 2 led by Ghazali Awang Mel, 40. His team comprised three members from the Terengganu VSD and two Universiti Putra Malaysia Veterinary Faculty students.
“This is our third day out, and we have to say that the owners have all been very co-operative in allowing us to take samples from their fowls,” he said.
Among the places his team covered today were Kampung Baru, Jalan Abdullah Yasin, Jalan Sungai Baru, Jalan Raja Abdullah and Jalan Raja Alang.
“We managed to take 31 samples today. We will send them to the institute to be tested.”
Their last stop was KLCC, but no swabs were taken as there were no bird shops in the complex.
Veterinary Services Department’s disease control unit head Dr Kamaruddin Mat Isa said the results of the tests would be known within two to three days.

Bacterial infection killed over 10 fowls in Perak last week

Star: IPOH: The Perak Veterinary Services Depart-ment received between 10 and 15 reports of kampung chickens dying over the past week.
“The deaths are due to bacterial infection and not the H5N1 virus or avian influenza,” said the department’s officer Dr Wan Mohd Kamil Wan Nik yesterday.
“We had responded immediately to each of the calls which came mainly from Batu Gajah and Chemor,” he added.
Dr Wan Mohd Kamil said the department was on the alert and would respond to reports of chicken deaths within 24 hours.
He added that the poultry farm in Taiping produced some one million eggs a day while the one in Bidor produced 850,000 eggs daily.
He noted that the public had been highly aware of chicken deaths and had been calling the department to report them.
“We are very happy with that, as the public can help us monitor the situation closely,” Dr Wan Mohd Kamil said.
He added that the public could call 05-5459111 or 05-5459122 or 05-5459133 to report chicken deaths in the state.
In Petaling Jaya, acting department director-general Datuk Dr Mustapa Jalil said tests were being conducted on the four dead birds found at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s campus in Section 13.
In Kota Kinabalu, state Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail said the seven chicken deaths at Kampung Bukit Permai in Menggatal here were not due the H5N1 virus.
However, the officers were still investigating claims of another 150 chicken deaths in Kuala Penyu.
“Two of our teams have been going to the various kampungs in Kuala Penyu but they have not been able to locate the place,” he said.

Preparation against bird flu

Star: PETALING JAYA: Triaging and strict infection guidelines similar to those enforced during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak would be implemented in hospitals should there be an influenza pandemic.
The National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan – the Government’s guidelines on how the country would react to influenza outbreaks including avian flu – said strict management of patients was needed to prevent the spread of the disease.
Triaging is the process of sorting people into groups based on the urgency of the need for immediate medical attention.
This would be handled at triage centres, which would be established at hospitals.
Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek had earlier announced that 36 hospitals nationwide would be equipped with the infrastructure and know-how to handle avian flu patients.
Other special infrastructure include negative-pressure isolation wards and facilities to get rid of contaminated material.
The guideline, dated November 2004, also said healthcare workers would be given top priority for vaccination in the event of a pandemic because healthcare sectors would be the country’s first line of defence against the disease.
“Maintaining the health service response and the vaccine programme is central to the implementation of the response plan,” the 224-page document said.
It said essential service providers would be the next priority group after healthcare workers.
These would include the police, fire-fighters, armed forces, key emergency response decision makers, utility workers, funeral service and mortuary personnel.
The third group that will be given priority are those at a high-risk of severe or fatal outcomes following an influenza infection.
These include those in nursing homes, long-term care facilities and homes for the elderly; persons with high-risk medical conditions; persons over the age of 65; children aged between six months and 23 months; and pregnant women.
The document said the Government had been carrying out influenza surveillance since September 2003.
It said the number of visits that fit the definition of an influenza-like-illness from selected clinics and all Health Ministry outpatient clinics in the country had been recorded.
The Malaysian action plan is modelled after the World Health Organisation’s five levels of influenza pandemic alert.

30,000 new oral cancer cases a year

Star: According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 30,000 new cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx were diagnosed each year.
MDA-CSCSP organising chairman Dr How Kim Chuan said that over 8,000 deaths were due to oral cancer.
“Preventing high risk behaviour such as cigarette smoking, cigar or pipe smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco is critical in fighting oral cancer.”
Health Ministry oral health division director Datuk Dr Wan Mohamad Nasir Wan Othman said the World Health Organisation reported that smoking-related diseases killed one in 10 adults globally, or four million deaths.
By 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people.
“According to our ministry’s records, it is estimated there were five million smokers in Malaysia in 2003. That makes up 22% of the population,” he said.