December 17, 2008
Bird flu outbreak in Eastern China
Chinese authorities have begun slaughtering and vaccinating poultry after an outbreak of bird flu was discovered in the east of the country, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday (December 16).
The outbreak was located on a chicken farm in Dongtai city in eastern Jiangsu province, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.
The outbreak was confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, the ministry said, prompting local agricultural authorities to step up vaccinations and slaughtering 377,000 chickens in the area around the farm.