Bird flu found in fowl in Indonesia's Papua-official

JAKARTA, May 16 (Reuters) - Indonesia has found the avian flu virus in chickens in Papua province, the first bird flu case in the archipelago's easternmost province, a senior government official said today.

A number of fighting cocks in Manokwari regency of western Papua tested positive for the H5N1 virus in late April, prompting authorities to cull about 200 chickens, Syamsul Bahri, animal health director at the agriculture ministry, told Reuters.

''The fighting cocks might have been brought to Papua from neighbouring Sulawesi island,'' Bahri said. ''It was the first case we had in Papua.'' ''We culled around 200 chickens, mostly from backyard farms around the neighbourhood where the virus was found to prevent it from spreading,'' he said.

Bird flu has been found in poultry in about two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces.

The latest case in poultry in Papua highlights international concern over Indonesia's ability to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed 25 people in the country and at least 115 worldwide since 2003.

Although the human death toll has climbed, the government has resisted mass culling of birds, citing the expense and impracticality in a country where keeping a few chickens or ducks in backyards is common.

Culling at selective farms and their immediate surroundings has been the preferred method.

Millions of chickens and other fowl have died from the disease in Indonesia or been killed to prevent its spread since it first surfaced in the sprawling archipelago in late 2003.

Bahri said the government was considering intensifying culling, but faced opposition from the public over compensation.

''The government can only offer 10,000 rupiah for each fowl ulled. But people want higher compensation,'' he said.

Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organisation's director for the Western Pacific, told Reuters earlier in Jakarta that Indonesia -- the nation with the most human deaths from bird flu this year -- had the will to combat the disease but far-flung provinces had fallen short at putting plans into action.

In the latest case, Indonesia is investigating an outbreak of bird flu in up to eight members of a North Sumatran family, of whom six have died.

REUTERS DKS RN1425