Locations where there was possible contact will also be closed. These are all measures that followed after the first ever confirmed outbreak of the bird flu in Suriname. The outbreak among broilers has triggered immediate action within the poultry sector. Gerald Tjon A San, acting director of Stock Breeding, labels bird flu a very serious disease that can result in a high mortality rate and that can also make it very difficult to sell products. The Ministry of Agriculture, Stock Breeding and Fisheries  (LVV) was notified after the poultry farmer noticed a high mortality rate among his broilers. Last week samples were taken from sick chickens at his farm. The poultry farm only has 1,000 chickens left after 5,000 had died. On September 18th the Public Health Bureau (BOG) confirmed that the chickens had succumbed to the bird flu. The remaining animals were killed and inspecties went door to door in the vicinity of the poultry farm to find out if neighbors had poultry and if they had noticed a high mortality rate among their animals. Gianna Karg, acting deputy director at LVV, pointed out that “Suriname had been confronted with this disease for the first time ever”. It is still not clear how the virus entered Suriname. Samples are sent to a foreign lab with the support of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to determine the genetic code in order to find out where the virus originated. It could take a few weeks for the results to be in. Stephanie Cheuk Alam, acting director at the Public Health Bureau, warned that there is a chance that this virus could be transmitted from birds to people. So far all of the people who were screened have tested negative for the bird flu but they are still being monitored because of the incubation period. The field workers of the ministry are also being monitored. Poultry farmers are asked to report sick or dead animals via 8938970.