Sudden Die Off of Hundreds of Chickens

KUNINGAN (SINDO) – Around 250 chickens in Cimulya village in Cimahi sub-district of Kuningan district suddenly died for the last 3 days. Death of the chickens is suspected to be caused by Avian Influenza virus infection. The Sub-district Secretary of Cimahi, Karwiyana, confirmed the death of hundreds of chickens owned by citizens. According to Karwiyana, the incident had occurred since the last 3 days. “Yes, there was a sudden die off of hundreds of chickens owned by citizens. It started since last Wednesday (6/2),” said Karwiyana to SINDO yesterday. He said that in the beginning, the local village officers received a report of several chickens owned by Selang citizens dying. A few days later the chicken death continued to widely spread.

His office has sent a letter to the Head of Kuningan district, the Agriculture Office and the Health Office. “Immediately after receiving the report, the special team for bird flu mitigation of the district government of Kuningan went to neutralize the site,” he said.
He also said that based on laboratory tests from the Health Office and the Agriculture Office of Kuningan district, the dead chickens were confirmed to be positive for bird flu. “The special team from the district government of Kuningan has also sprayed disinfectants to poultry houses owned by citizens in the infected areas,” explained Karwiyana.
Meanwhile, Head of the Communicable Disease Prevention and Environmental Health Division of the Health Office of Kuningan district, Asep S Hermana, confirmed the information. Asep said that his office has conducted investigation around the site.
“Besides tracing the death of the chickens, we also investigated the possibility of citizens having direct contact with the dead birds. From our investigation, no citizen was infected by the bird flu virus,” said Asep. (benny bastiandy)