H5N1: Bird flu kills more than 15,000 in Nepal, Hong Kong finds more victims, yet more human cases in Indonesia

Nepal’s Animal Health Directorate reported that bird flu is spreading like wild fire in their country.  So far 15,160 chickens have died on just one farm.

Test results have finally come in, and confirmed it was bird flu. Now officials will begin killing off the rest of the poultry on farms that have had cases of bird flu.

This is devastating to Nepal’s poultry industry, and could result in a food shortage.

In Hong Kong, another wild bird was found dead.  The crow tested positive for H5 avian influenza.  Hong Kong has seen a number of wild birds dying from the virus, normally it’s domesticated poultry.

The wild birds had not been found near poultry farms.  The crow was found in a planter at a gas station.

Indonesia continues to have more human cases.  According to the UN’s World Health Organization, 18 people have become sick, with ten dying in the 2011-2012 flu season.

The latest death was a 24 year old woman who got sick with fever on February 23.  She died on 01 March 2012.  She worked at a poultry farm where chickens were infected.