AP Features, June 9th, 2007
Two boys hospitalized in northern Malaysia have tested negative for bird flu, easing fears that the disease could be more widespread in the country than expected, a health official said Saturday.
Malaysia on Tuesday reported its first bird flu outbreak in more than a year after tests on 60 birds that died in Sungai Buloh, near its commercial capital, Kuala Lumpur, confirmed they had the virulent H5N1 virus.
Officials immediately moved to slaughter about 6,000 birds in the area and took other measures to contain the outbreak, which they called an isolated incident. Seven villagers with flu-like symptoms were hospitalized.
But fresh concerns emerged after two boys, aged two and four, were hospitalized Friday in northern Kedah state with high fevers after coming into contact with chickens that later died in their village, said Ramlee Rahmat, deputy director-general of public health.
Kedah is about 300 kilometers (180 miles) from Kuala Lumpur.
"They tested negative for bird flu. The virus is not widespread but localized (in Sungai Buloh). The outbreak is under control," he told The Associated Press.
Tests on samples from about 30 chickens that had died in the boys' village in the past month confirmed it was not bird flu, he said.
Ramlee said the seven villagers in Sungai Buloh had also tested negative for the disease. Four of them have been discharged and the rest in stable condition, he said.
Another two people from southern Malacca state, who were also hospitalized after visiting a village in Sungai Buloh, also tested negative for bird flu, he added.
Malaysia last reported an outbreak of the H5N1 strain in March 2006 in chickens in a northern village. The government declared the country free of bird flu in June 2006.
Officials have said they need to further analyze the case in Sungai Buloh to determine the origin of the virus.
Bird flu has killed at least 189 people since it started ravaging Asian poultry flocks in late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. There have been no fatalities in Malaysia.
