November 14, 2005

New bird flu outbreak reported in central China

Agriculture authorities Friday reported a new bird flu outbreak in central China, with 2,500 birds dead and more than 31,000 destroyed, a government news agency reported.

The report brought the number of outbreaks reported in China over the past three weeks to eight.

The latest outbreak began Nov 2 in Jingshan County in Hubei province and was confirmed Friday by the Agriculture Ministry, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The report did not specify what kind of birds were involved, but most domestic fowl in central China are chickens or ducks, both of which have suffered bird flu outbreaks in recent weeks.