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Fowls culled after avian flu virus found

By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-17 07:43

Agricultural agencies have culled 377,000 fowls in two counties in eastern Jiangsu province during the past two days after some of them tested positive for bird flu virus, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday.

A statement on the ministry website, however, said the culling was a precautionary measure and not because of a bird flu outbreak. But health officials are on high alert.

Veterinary officials in Jiangsu told the ministry on Monday that samples collected from some farms in Hai'an and Dongtai counties had tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

The virus was detected on the mainland province less than a week after Hong Kong authorities culled tens of thousands of fowls following a bird flu scare. The Ministry of Health had warned earlier that the possibility of an outbreak of animal epidemic on the mainland this winter was "relatively high".

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Dongtai is north of Hai'an and a vital source of poultry in Jiangsu, raising more than 80 million fowls a year.

Animal epidemic experts have been sent to Jiangsu, but neither the ministry nor the provincial agricultural authority said whether the virus had killed any fowl or how many birds were infected.

Local officials have disinfected and quarantined the areas where the virus was detected and banned the supply of poultry from the two counties.

The Ministry of Agriculture quoted agricultural experts as having said that the virus detected in the two counties was different from that found in southern China recently. It suggested that migratory birds could have transmitted the H5N1 virus.

On Dec 9, Hong Kong banned the import of poultry for 21 days and culled more than 80,000 birds after three chickens found dead in a farm tested positive for the H5 virus.

The Ministry of Agriculture, running two nationwide campaigns against bird flu this year, said only 46 of the 4.3 million samples collected between January and October had tested positive for H5N1.

The H5N1 has killed at least 246 people across the world, with Indonesia accounting for one-third of those deaths, and forced authorities across Asia to cull millions of fowls since late 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

The virus has not mutated to pass on from human to human and people have been infected only after coming into direct contact with sick birds. The number of countries and regions reporting a bird flu outbreak in the first nine months of the year fell from 25 in 2007 to 20 this year, UN officials said.

Experts are worried because many people have started taking bird flu casually since the virus has not mutated. WHO has, however, urged Asian governments not to let down their guard against the virus.

Agencies contributed to the story