Impact Of Bird Flu In Malaysia

Avian flu, popularly known as bird fly, is a highly contagious and fatal disease caused by the Influenza A virus and it is primarily prevalent in poultry, though it can affect other mammals including humans. A country's economy can be devastated due to an outbreak of bird flu.

Malaysia was hit by an outbreak of bird flu in the year 2004. It was first found in a village called Kelantan and once detected, all the areas around the village were alerted and immediate measures were taken that no poultry was transported to the other areas.

This outbreak had a huge impact to the poultry industry of Malaysia as exports of poultry were suspended due to the reports of the disease. The WHO also warned about the possibility of infection of humans as the disease had the potential to get transmitted from poultry to humans.

Malaysia also went on a national alert and tests were widely conducted in poultry farms, bird parks and also commercial poultry premises. Extreme precautions were taken to prevent any possible export or smuggling of poultry as the infection could spread easily to other countries also.

Another outbreak was observed in the year 2006 when chickens died in the area of Perak. The outbreak also affected the neighboring state called Penang. The health officials closely monitored the spread of the disease. Outbreaks were also documented in the areas of Changkat Legong, Titi Gantung and also Changkat Tualang. Though these outbreaks did not affect humans, the experts still feared that the virus could mutate and result in a pandemic and could pose a severe threat to the lives of humans.

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Impact Of Bird Flu In Malaysia