July 24, 2006

China reports new bird flu outbreak in Xinjiang

An outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 3,045 chickens in China's far western region of Xinjiang but no humans were reported to be affected, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday (Jul 22).

The outbreak, discovered on Jul 14, prompted local officials in Aksu city to cull an additional 356,976 chickens as a precaution, Xinhua said, citing the Ministry of Agriculture.

The report said the outbreak was "under control," but gave no additional details.

The government's last report of an outbreak occurred earlier this month among birds in Zhongwei, a city in China's northern Ningxia region.