E.U. Extends Import Ban To Malaysia After Bird Flu Outbreak

BRUSSELS, Aug 23 (AFP) - The European Union has banned imports of pet birds and feathers from Malaysia after an outbreak of a lethal form of bird flu there, the European Commission said Monday.
The ban extends an EU ban slapped on poultry and bird products from other Asian countries earlier this year after outbreaks of avian influenza.
"Avian influenza is a highly contagious poultry disease that can cause severe economic damage to the poultry industry and may be transmitted to humans," said EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne.
"We can take no risks when it comes to the import of products or birds that might introduces this virus into the EU," he added.
Bird flu was confirmed early this year in several Asian countries, sparking an EU ban on the import of live poultry, ostriches, other live birds (including pets), hatching eggs and affected poultry products.
"The ban ... means that exports of feathers and birds from Malaysia to the EU will be forbidden until the situation is under control," said the commission, the EU's executive arm, in a statement.
It added that the ban will stay in force at least until December 15, "when the situation in all the affected countries will be reviewed."
The Malaysian government announced last week that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had been discovered for the first time in Malaysia, in a village near the Thai border where eight people have died of bird flu this year.
But Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said Monday that all seven patients admitted to hospital for checks have tested negative for the disease.
The disease has killed 19 people in Vietnam, and the World Health Organisation fears the virus could mutate into a highly contagious form that triggers the next global human flu pandemic.
The WHO said it was "troubled" by the outbreak in Malaysia, which had implemented aggressive measures to prevent importation of the virus. "H5N1 has once more shown how well it is entrenched in parts of South-East Asia," said the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi.