Health officials appear to have successfully contained a bird
flu outbreak in southwest China's Tibet after slaughtering almost
7,000 chickens.
The regional government launched an emergency plan after dead
poultry from a market in the capital city, Lhasa, tested positive
for H5 bird flu virus.
Officials moved to curb the spread of the disease after reports
that 680 chickens died on Thursday, said Cai Bing, an official with
the regional agriculture and husbandry department.
Samples of the dead poultry were tested in the regional center
for animal epidemic and disease prevention and control, Cai said.
The results were confirmed by the National Avian Influenza
Reference Laboratory.
The market had two poultry vendors who had transported 8,100
chickens from other provinces on Feb. 27, including 430 sold to
other markets in Lhasa before the infection was discovered, said
Cai.
Regional authorities had the remaining 6,990 chickens
slaughtered. The market has been ordered to remain closed for six
months.
Measures such as disinfection of the area near the market and
inspections of poultry markets had been adopted, said Cai.
Ministry of Agriculture experts have arrived in Lhasa to inspect
the poultry markets and praised the local government's timely and
effective culling.
The source of the infected chickens was still under
investigation, said Cai, adding authorities were also tracing the
430 chickens sold to other markets.
Ninety-one people who had close contact with the chickens,
including the two vendors and nearby residents, had been put under
medical observation, Cai said.
Sales of live birds in markets within a 13-kilometer radius of
the market have been banned.
Poultry transported to Tibet since Friday were required to
undergo observation and quarantine before going to market, said
Cai.
Although most of the vendors are still doing business, the
sudden outbreak has cost them heavily.
"Normally I sell more than 20 chickens a day, but I have only
sold six since March 1 when the bird flu was reported in Lhasa."
said Shao Jiangang, a vendor in Balin market, 13 kilometers from
the quarantine area.
Earlier this month three wild birds and two poultry birds tested
positive for the H5 virus out of 325 poultry and 20 wild birds
tested in Fujian province, where a woman who contracted the disease
late last month is in a critical condition in hospital, according
to authorities.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2007)