PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: Health Minister John Raheal has assured the Trinidad and Tobago population that there is no outbreak of the H5NI strain of bird flu in the country. The Minister's response follows the deaths of over 2,000 chickens at a poultry farm in Cumuto just east of the capital Port of Spain. Officials from the country's Health Ministry who visited the farm have ordered a quarantine on other birds, stressing it was not as a result of any bird flu. Initial diagnoses have revealed that the deaths of the chickens was due to Aspergillosis. Aspergillosis, according to local health ministry officials, is not transmitted from one bird to another, nor from birds to humans, but is contracted from the environment. Aspergillosis is the most common fungal infection in birds caused by aspergella fungi, which grows readily in damp, dark conditions with poor ventilation. Encrusted faecal matter, damp feed, dirty feeding utensils and food that falls through cage grates all encourage mould growth. Further tests are currently being conducted. So far there have been no reports of human deaths or Aspergillosis-like symptoms from farmers in the Cumoto area. Officials at the island's Health and Agriculture Ministries say they will continue to monitor the situation and have taken every precautionary measure possible to avoid any possible outbreak of the H5NI virus, commonly known as bird flu. The H5NI virus has already caused panic across countries such as Asia and Turkey as many persons are reported to have died from close contact with birds found to be carrying the H5NI virus. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com