Some 2,000 birds dead in Trinidad, cause unknown (AP) Updated: 2006-01-10 09:59
The health minister of the Caribbean country of Trinidad promised an
investigation Monday after 2,000 chickens died at several farms in eastern
Trinidad, but said he doubted the cause was bird flu.
The birds have been dying since last Thursday in half a dozen large farms
around Cumuto, 25 miles east of the capital, Port-of-Spain, said a farmer who
did not want to be identified because he was worried of losing contracts with
customers.
It was unknown if the birds died from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu that
has already killed more than 70 people in East Asia since 2003.
"I don't want to alarm the country," said Trinidad's Health Minister John
Rahael. "An immediate investigation will be launched to determine the cause of
death of the birds, but I don't think it's bird flu."
An Associated Press reporter saw the dozens of dead chickens scattered around
the fields. Farmers said they had buried hundreds of dead chickens in nearby
fields.
Farmers were trying to round up sick chickens to keep them in quarantine away
from the rest of their flocks. Those chickens have swollen stomachs, watery
eyes, a lack of appetite and grayish blue skin, farmers said.
Agriculture Minister Jarett Narine did not return calls for comment, and it
was not immediately possible to determine when authorities would be able to
identify what killed the birds.
In October, a mild strain of bird flu that poses no threat to humans was
discovered in chickens in Colombia. Colombian authorities carried out 18,000
tests on chickens at more than 200 farms across the Andean nation and said they
haven't detected any new cases.
Experts worry that the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus sweeping through bird
flocks in Asia and pockets of eastern Europe could mutate into a human flu that
could kill millions.
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