H5N1 implicated in Indonesia chicken deaths

The Jakarta Post reports that thousands egg-laying hens have died suddenly in South Lampung, Indonesia, as a result of avian influenza A H5N1. Previous testing of the flock for the H5N1 virus had produced a negative result, but retesting by the Lampung Livestock and Animal Husbandry lab produced positive results for H5N1.
The chickens are owned by PT Central Avian Pertiwi, which destroyed 12,000 sick birds and has isolated tens of thousands of healthy birds, the newspaper reported. No human infections have been reported in association with the outbreak. The outbreak follows the sudden deaths of chickens in nearby Sripendowo village in mid-January.
In a separate outbreak in the province of West Java, 300 chickens have died of H5N1 infections, the newspaper said.