The ministry of health in Ethiopia says samples from dead chickens have tested negative for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, but a nationwide scare about the disease has had an incalculable cost on its economy. Ethiopia sent blood samples from 14 chickens to be tested in Italy after 7,000 died of an unidentified disease in a state-owned farm in southern region. The remaining chickens were incinerated and the government banned movements of poultry products including chickens along a 60-km (38-mile) area surrounding Gubre poultry farm.