Highly pathogenic bird flu epidemic was reported in two counties of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said Tuesday.

On Nov. 9, some family farms in Zepu Country, southern Xinjiang, reported that 1,347 fowls were died. On the same day the local veterinary department found dead fowls in some family farms in Urumqi County about 1,500 kilometers to the northeast, the ministry said.

The deaths were reported to the Xinjiang Animal Epidemic Prevention Administration, which drew conclusion on Nov. 11 that they were suspected of contracting avian flu.

Samples of the dead fowls were sent to China's National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory, which confirmed on Nov. 14 the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The ministry immediately sent an expert group to the two places to help the local governments prevent the spread of the disease.

In the bird flu-hit areas, a total of 322,500 family birds within a radius of three kilometers have been culled, and poultry and products markets with ten kilometers have been closed, the ministry said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2005)