A Ministry of Agriculture official yesterday denied a report in Saturday's Washington Post that the government had encouraged farmers to use amantadine, meant for humans, in poultry since the 1990s to prevent avian flu.

"We'll take measures soon to curb the action," said Xu Shixin, division director of the ministry's veterinary bureau, and inspection teams will be dispatched nationwide to stop it being used in this way.

Researchers fear using the drug in animals could lead to drug resistance, making it useless in treating humans in the event of an epidemic. Drug-resistant forms of the H5N1 strain of avian flu virus have already been found in Thailand and Vietnam, according to reports.

How widespread the practice has been was not clear, but Xu maintained that "the government has never permitted farmers to use amantadine to treat bird flu."

WHO spokesperson Roy Wadia said his organization would seek more information from the government.

Zhang Zhongjun, from the UN Food & Agriculture Organization's China office, said they have already set up a channel with the government to report developments in the fight against infectious diseases in animals.

"We haven't received any reports so far that the government has allowed the use of the drug on chickens," said Zhang.

China has made breakthroughs in vaccine research against the H5N1 and H5N2 strains of bird flu, and they work effectively in poultry, he said.

Xu said the government would supply farmers with cheaper and more effective vaccines to replace the use of amantadine by some farmers.

He also said that the bird flu outbreaks in Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have already been brought under control.

(China Daily June 21, 2005)