Friday, July 6, 2012

Slaughter on Bird Street: HK Yuen Po Street Bird Garden Update

Friday, July 06, 2012

Excerpt:
Twenty-five stall owners and workers and 14 staff members from the department have been put under medical surveillance by the Centre for Health Protection.

Health and agriculture officials said the announcement of the infected tourist spot - the first in five years - was not delayed, even though droppings inside the cage of the magpie robin were collected on June 25.

Tests on the samples usually take weeks to complete, and the results from the department laboratory came out only yesterday morning.

So far this year 22 dead wild birds have been found to be infected, a five- year high.

University of Hong Kong scientists will genetically sequence the virus to see if it has not shifted from the dominant strain, clade 2.3.2.1, said HKU professor of virology and gene sequencing expert Guan Yi.


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