July 3, 2006

China reports new bird flu case in poultry

China has suffered a new outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry, a news report said Saturday (Jul 1), as experts were trying to determine whether a Chinese man died of the disease in 2003, two years before the country reported any human cases.

The new outbreak was found near Zhongwei, a city in the Ningxia region, the government's Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Agriculture Ministry. It did not say how many or what type of birds were affected.

Ministry experts were sent to the area "to control any possible outbreak" and local authorities were disinfecting vehicles and people travelling into and out of the area, Xinhua said.

China has reported more than 30 bird flu outbreaks in poultry since October.