The national bird flu reference laboratory confirmed on Tuesday
that the latest death of chickens in east China's Anhui
Province was caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu
virus.
The case happened at a chicken farm of the Juchao District,
Chaohu City, Anhui Province.
Officials with the Ministry of Agriculture said that the
ministry received the report of chicken death on July 3 and soon
dispatched a group of experts to the affected area to guide
relevant works of prevention and control of the disease.
Sources from the ministry said that the local government has
made necessary measures of slaughter or quarantine to prevent a
spread, and sent samples to the authorities. It has also isolated
the area following the death report in accordance with China's Law
on Animal Epidemic Prevention.
The local health authority killed all the poultry within a 3 km
radius of the chicken farm and vaccinated all the poultry within a
5 km radius of the affected area.
Experts of the ministry said the farm is located on a slope in a
rather separate environment close to the wide Chaohu Lake and all
the chicks are bought from the local markets, where no avian flu
case had been reported before.
The experts estimated that the virus might be spread by migrants
or wild water birds.
The ministry has informed the case to the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, World Health Organization
(WHO), relevant authorities of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
The ministry confirmed the first contraction of H5N1 strain of
bird flu on January 27 at a duck farm in the Dingdang Township,
south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
On March 16, the authority lifted quarantine on the last two
affected areas in Lhasa of Tibet and Nanning, Guangxi's capital
city.
During the period of time, altogether 49 cases of bird flu were
confirmed and controlled. So far, no human contraction was
reported.
(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2004)