Malaysia declares itself free of bird flu after no outbreaks in 3 months

Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu Monday, more than three months after an outbreak among poultry led authorities to slaughter over 4,000 chickens and ducks.

Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said surveillance and laboratory tests since June have fulfilled conditions set by the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, to declare the country free of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.

"The prompt action by the Veterinary Services Department to stamp out the bird flu outbreak according to the protocol had been effective," the national news agency Bernama quoted Muhyiddin as saying. "We had conveyed the matter to the OIE, which gave the green light for Malaysia to be declared free from the disease."

Muhyiddin's aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, confirmed the comments.

Malaysia on June 5 confirmed its first bird flu outbreak in more than a year after tests on some 60 birds that died in Sungai Buloh, near the country's commercial capital, Kuala Lumpur, showed they had the H5N1 virus.

Several villagers with flu-like symptoms were hospitalized, but they tested negative for bird flu.

Before the last incident, Malaysia had reported an outbreak of the H5N1 strain in March 2006 in chickens in a northern village. The government had previously declared the country free of bird flu in June 2006.

The H5N1 virus has killed more than 190 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

The disease is hard for humans to catch, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily between people, potentially sparking a global pandemic. To date, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.