July 8, 2004

Chinese Poultry Farms Cautioned Against Wild Bird Contact

Farms raising poultry for Hong Kong and Macao markets in south China's Guangdong province were urged Wednesday to enhance precautions against contact with wild birds and those raised by other units, in order to stem an outbreak of bird flu.

The alert, sounded earlier in the day by the provincial Administration for Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine, came after the national bird flu reference laboratory confirmed on Tuesday that the latest death of chickens in east Anhui province was caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

The administration adopted a range of measures to ensure the health of poultry raised in the province for Hong Kong and Macao, which include all poultry being required to be immunized at least twice.

A system to report the situation of bird flu cases was also ordered to be resumed by the administration.

During the outbreak of bird flu in the country over the first few months of this year, no cases were reported at more than 300 poultry farms in Guangdong which serve Hong Kong and Macao.

China confirmed the first contraction of H5N1 strain of bird flu in January at a duck farm in Dingdang township in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. And in March, the country lifted quarantine on the last two bird-flu affected areas in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Nanning, capital of Guangxi.

During that period, 49 cases of bird flu were confirmed and controlled. No human infection was reported so far.