Mayor of Jakarta claims bird flu victory

JAKARTA, Indonesia --Indonesia claimed a major victory in the fight against bird flu Thursday, saying the heart of the capital had been cleared of backyard fowl and that residents elsewhere were handing in chickens for slaughter.

But poultry could still be seen roaming freely in suburban neighborhoods and some people hid pet birds in their homes, raising doubts the campaign would prevent further human deaths in the country hardest hit by the virus.

"I can guarantee there are no backyard birds in Central Jakarta," said Muhayat, the mayor, who uses a single name. "The people here are now fully aware of the disease and voluntarily culled their birds."

Indonesia has tallied 63 human deaths from bird flu, nearly a third of the world's total. It came under criticism for failing to crack down on bird flu when it first appeared nearly four years ago, but has since taken concerted steps to stamp out the deadly H5N1 strain.

Gov. Sutiyoso said he was pleased with progress so far in Jakarta, where owners have voluntarily slaughtered some 100,000 domestic chickens, racing pigeons and ducks in the last few weeks -- around a tenth of the estimated number in the capital.

"People have to choose between the lives of their loved ones and the lives of their pets," he said, adding that authorities will show no tolerance for backyard birds or fowl in Jakarta.

The H5N1 virus has killed or prompted the slaughter of millions of birds around the world since late 2003, and caused the deaths of at least 164 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Most of the victims so far have been infected by contact with birds. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, and start a pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

In Lagos, Nigeria, meanwhile, shirtless young men slaughtered chickens with machetes, then poured their blood down an embankment as they talked about their nation's first bird-flu death, announced Tuesday.

"I'm worried about bird flu," said Philip Selli, a 32-year-old businessman in one of Lagos' main poultry markets, adding that he would only eat healthy ones. Experts say ingesting well-cooked chicken poses no health risk, but that close contact -- like plucking and cleaning sick birds -- can transmit the disease.

Selli and others said the death of a 22-year-old university student Jan. 17 was unlikely to interrupt business in a city of 14 million, where most residents live in crowded slums, often together with poultry.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and home to hundreds of millions of backyard birds, is seen as a potential incubator for a bird flu capable of easy human-to-human transmission. The virus is already endemic in chickens across the nation.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said Indonesia has considered naming bird flu a national disaster -- a step that would mean money from the state budget's disaster fund could be spent on fighting it.

The effectiveness of the slaughter campaign remained to be seen, amid fears that corrupt and underpaid officials may be susceptible to bribes or could simply stop enforcing the regulations.

Lulu Anisa, 32-year-old housewife, said that while her chickens were seized by officials and culled on Thursday, "many residents managed to hide their birds."

In Tokyo, meanwhile, officials confirmed that a bird flu virus from the H5 family killed dozens of chickens in the fourth outbreak to hit Japan's poultry stocks this year.

Authorities were still working to confirm if the outbreak of the virus in Shitomi, southwestern Miyazaki prefecture, was of the H5N1 strain deadly to humans, Agriculture Ministry official Yasushi Yamaguchi said.

Officials will slaughter the farm's 93,000 chickens and sterilize the site, the Ministry said in a statement.

Chicken ranchers within a six-mile radius have already been told not to transport poultry out of the area.

The bird flu outbreak among poultry is the fourth this year in Japan and the third to hit farms in Miyazaki, Japan's largest chicken-producing region. All three previous outbreaks were confirmed as H5N1, and authorities have since culled thousands of birds to try to stop the spread of the virus.

Japan has confirmed only one human H5N1 infection, and no human deaths.