A?spokesperson from the Ministry of Agriculture named Yang
yesterday said there were no new confirmed cases in the latest
outbreak of bird flu in the western province of Qinghai.
"We have surveyed more than two million domestic birds in the
province and haven't detected any contagion," Dang Chenyan,
director of the provincial animal epidemic prevention headquarters,
said yesterday.
He also confirmed that the disease has not spread to any
humans.
The province is well on its way to finishing the vaccination of its
poultry flock after the ministry confirmed last Saturday that the
deaths of migratory birds in Gangcha County on May 4 were caused by
H5N1 avian influenza, Dang said.
The number of dead bar-headed geese reached 178 on "bird island"
in Qinghai Lake -- the largest saltwater lake in China -- and in
nearby areas, according to a ministry statement.
The provincial government allocated 3 million doses of vaccine
as part of emergency measures to bring the disease under control,
Dang said.
Other steps included enhancing monitoring areas to prevent
people and domesticated fowl from coming into contact with wild
birds, said sources from the provincial animal epidemic control
headquarters.
Following an urgent circular from the Ministry of Agriculture
last weekend, animal epidemic prevention centers nationwide have
put contingency plans into place and tightened monitoring.
In central China's Henan
Province, a round-the-clock bird flu surveillance network has
been put into action to feed early warning information to animal
health staff and decision makers, according to a Xinhua report.
The report quoted the provincial centre for disease control and
prevention as saying the odds were rather low of there being an
outbreak of bird flu in Henan.
Apart from preventive efforts, high summer and autumn
temperatures make it difficult for bird flu viruses to survive due
to their sensitivity to temperature, according to the report.
Gan Qiangzhong, deputy magistrate of Long'an County in the
southwestern province of Yunnan,
said yesterday that the situation in the region was normal.
Dingdang Township in Long'an County reported China's first known
H5N1 case on January 27 last year.
"We have all our prevention measures in place even without being
reminded of the Qinghai case," he told China Daily.
After the last outbreak, many Long'an farmers left their small
courtyard farms to either build large farms, where conditions are
far improved, or to raise flocks under the guidance of their
contracted processing enterprises, said Gan.
(China Daily May 25, 2005)
