May 8, 2006

 

China reports bird flu outbreak among wild fowl

 

 

The Chinese government on Friday (May 5) reported an outbreak of bird flu in wild birds in the remote western regions, a further sign of the difficulties in controlling the virus' spread.

 

The Ministry of Agriculture said that 125 migratory birds, all but two of them bar-headed geese, have died in the outbreak first detected Apr 23 in Qinghai province. A government laboratory tested samples of the dead fowl and confirmed Wednesday that the birds were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, a ministry statement said.

 

It is at least the second time H5N1 has turned up in Qinghai, a region of high-altitude plains and mountains that sits on a prime migration route for birds between Siberia and South Asia.

 

The first outbreak, a year ago, was seen as a warning that the virus was poised to spread beyond China and South-east Asia. In the year since, outbreaks have occurred as far away as Europe and Africa.

 

The worry among disease experts is that the farther the virus spreads, the greater the chances of contact between infected birds and humans and the greater the likelihood it will mutate into a more virulent form.

 

"Since this outbreak is in wild birds, it will increase the sense of emergency," said Noureddin Mona, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's representative in Beijing. "Wild birds are difficult to control. All countries have to be on alert."

 

Unlike the first outbreak a year ago when China delayed allowing outside experts into Qinghai, authorities appeared to respond relatively quickly this time. Mona said FAO experts are scheduled to investigate the disease zone next week.

 

The Agriculture Ministry said that after herders and forestry officials first reported finding dead bar-headed geese on Apr 23 in Qinghai's Yushu county, the local government immediately dispatched a group of veterinary experts to the area.

 

The area is lightly populated. The ministry said no homes were raising domesticated fowl--a factor that decreases the risks of further transmission. Herders were told to take their livestock a few weeks early to summer grazing grounds, far away from the infected area, the ministry statement said.

 

The government has also disinfected the area and set up observation posts to monitor the migratory fowl. In addition to bar-headed geese, a brown-headed gull and a ruddy shelduck were also found dead, the statement said.