The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has received a
report from the government on the current bird flu outbreak in Qinghai
Province, an official from the organization's Chinese
Representative Office said in Beijing on Monday.
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The official said they have reported back to the FAO headquarters
and the Ministry of Agriculture to the World Organization for
Animal Health.
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The ministry said last Saturday that the national bird flu
reference laboratory had confirmed that deaths of migratory birds
in Niannaisuoma Village, Gangcha County in Qinghai were caused by
the H5N1 strain of the virus.
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Central government immediately allocated 3 million doses of avian
flu vaccine to inoculate domestic birds in the province, and the
local government took emergency measures by closing off selected
areas to reduce contact between people, poultry and wild birds.
Quarantine and vaccination measures have been adopted, and the
ministry has sent a group of experts to the area to guide the
work.
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Dang Chenyan, director of local animal epidemic prevention
headquarters, said that inoculation work was completed in the
affected area on Saturday afternoon, and continues elsewhere in the
province.
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This is the first report of detection of the H5N1 virus in China
since the country successfully brought 50 cases of bird flu under
control last year.
The virus in Qinghai hasn't spread to people or poultry so far,
said the government.?
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2005)
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