Sri Lanka cleared from bird flu threat

Health authorities on Thursday cleared that Sri Lanka is not affected with bird flu despite earlier warning after a number of fowl died of a similar infection. An official from the Department of Animal Production and Health said that it was cleared that the infection of chicken in a farm in Bingiriya in the North Western Province was not deadly H5N1 strain. "This is not H5N1 infection. If it was H5N1, all the fowls would have died within three days," W. K. D. Silva, director of the Animal Production and Health Department. He said this was cleared with a number of extensive tests and investigations carried out by the department and poultry farmers would not have to be worried. On Wednesday following the death a number of fowl in a poultry farm in a village, 80 kilometers north of the capital Colombo, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health issued warning that there may be a threat of bird flu in the country. The health official said in Sri Lanka there have been no cases of H5N1, an avian influenza virus which has killed more than 330 people around the world.