Five quarantined with suspected bird flu
Five people have been quarantined with suspected bird flu following an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus last week, Health Minister Chua Sio Lek said on Tuesday.
Five people have been quarantined with suspected bird flu following an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus last week, Health Minister Chua Sio Lek said on Tuesday.
A 11-year-old boy was placed in isolation in the Sungai Buloh area of central Selangor state, where the virus resurfaced last week for the first time in more than a year, according to Chua.
Four others - two adults and two children - were hospitalised with flu-like symptoms in central Pahang state.
"They have a history of contact with dead chickens," the minister said.
Sixteen others admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms have tested negative for the virus, Chua said.
Malaysia first suffered outbreaks of avian influenza among poultry in late 2004 in a village in northern Kelantan state.
Malaysia last reported outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus in February 2006 when it appeared in free-range chickens near the capital Kuala Lumpur, triggering the slaughter of tens of thousands of birds.
There were no human cases.
Five other outbreaks followed elsewhere but the country declared itself free of bird flu in June.
H5N1 has killed nearly 190 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.
