Three of the 21 dead birds that were recently discovered on Hong Kong’s shores tested positive for H5N1, the bird flu strain responsible for killing more than 200 people worldwide since 2003, according to a statement released by the Hong Kong government.

 

The dead birds were found on January 29 and 31 on the shores of Lantau Island, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) announced Wednesday. Preliminary tests of the birds by the department only found the H5 strain of the avian influenza.

 

The Hong Kong government said no human bird flu cases were recorded this year, but a Hong Kong government adviser said there has been an outbreak, but the government has not admitted it. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said there “must” have been an outbreak among chicken, duck of geese flocks.

 

In 1997, Hong Kong confronted with the first bird flu outbreak that killed humans. Seven people died from H5N1 infection.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department announced the decision to continue to closely monitor the situation and investigate the possible causes of the recent discovery of dead birds. Hong Kong authorities suggest that the virus is circulating widely among birds in southern Guangdong province, which borders the country.

 

According to local sources, the city’s FCD said it is working with Chinese authorities to find out whether the birds infected with the deadly virus washed ashore on Lantau from the mainland China.

Chinese authorities fear that the number of people infected with the avian influenza would rise as low temperatures and high humidity environments present during the winter time in China are known to be the virus’ favorite habitation.

Twenty countries had outbreaks of the disease during the first nine months of 2008, down from twenty-five during the same period in 2007, according to U.N. data.

 

Infectious disease experts say that Hong Kong uses an older version of the H5 vaccine than mainland China, where there are more frequent outbreaks and farmers vaccinate poultry specifically against the H5N1 strain of the virus.

In 2008, in early September a bird flu outbreak in south China’s Guangzhou led to the death of more than 9,000 ducks. The National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory confirmed the outbreak as a sub-type of H5N1 bird flu and the government had culled more than 50,000 fowls in the infected region.

 

There have been 404 human cases of infection with the H5 virus since 2003, 254 of them fatal, according to statistics from the World Health Organization. The virus has killed more than 300 million birds and it spread to 60 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. If the virus mutates to transmit efficiently from birds to people it could lead to a global pandemic and to millions of deaths.