November 10, 2005

 

China reports two new bird flu outbreaks in poultry
 

 

China has reported two new outbreaks of bird flu among chickens in its north-eastern province of Liaoning, bringing the total number of reported outbreaks in the past month to six.

 

The outbreaks of the virulent H5N1 virus in Liaoning's Jinzhou city and Fuxin city began on Sunday and were confirmed Wednesday, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture posted on the website of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The report identified the source of infection as "wild animals," presumably migratory birds.

 

The news came a day after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, while inspecting Liaoning's flu prevention work, warned that the country faced a serious threat from bird flu, since the disease was still not under control despite massive nationwide efforts to stop its spread.

 

The government has ordered increasingly strict preventive measures.

 

China has not reported any infections in humans by the H5N1 virus, which has killed at least 63 people elsewhere in Asia. But health officials said cases would be inevitable if China could not stop repeated outbreaks in poultry.

 

Authorities feared that H5N1 could mutate into a form that is easily passed from human to human, sparking a possible pandemic.

 

Liaoning was the site of an earlier outbreak. Other outbreaks have been reported among fowl in northern China's Inner Mongolia, eastern China's Anhui and in the central province of Hunan.

 

Agricultural officials in Hunan denied reports Thursday by Hong Kong newspapers that the H5N1 virus was confirmed there in pigs, which could catch both bird flu and human influenza.

 

Experts feared that the virus could mutate if it infected pigs that were also carrying the human flu virus.

"No, we have not received any reports of pigs showing positive results from tests for bird flu," said the vice director of the Hunan Provincial Veterinary Center, who gave only his surname, Qing.

 

An official at the Ministry of Agriculture's news office said it had no announcements of such news.