Deadly Flu Virus Killing Chickens in Hong Kong

Scientists in Hong Kong say they have detected a recurrence of a deadly flu virus, similar to the one known as H5N1 that killed more than a million chickens in 1997. The virus is very aggressive and kills chickens within days. In a move intended to halt further spread of the flu virus, Hong Kong has ordered the slaughter of more than a million chickens and other poultry and has halted the importing of live chickens from mainland China.

To date, however, government authorities say there is no evidence that the flu kills human beings. In 1997, the H5N1 virus killed six people. The current strain appears to differ from H5N1 in many ways, say government doctors, and it could mutate in some way that might make it harmful to humans. Government officials seem determined this time to avoid the mistakes of 1997, when they responded many months after the first human death, by which time the virus was widespread throughout farms and markets in Hong Kong.