China Reports New Bird Flu Outbreak in Northeast

China Reports New Bird Flu Outbreak in Northeast
Doves and pigeons for sale at a bird market in Chengdu of Sichuan Province, China. The government reported the seventh outbreak since last month, and the fourth in Liaoning province. (China Photos/Getty Images)
Reuters
11/11/2005
Updated:
11/11/2005

BEIJING - China has reported a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry in its northeast, the seventh in the country since the beginning October, the government said.

About 300 chicken had died since Nov. 6 in Beining in Liaoning province, where there had already been three outbreaks, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The outbreak has affected four townships and 2.5 million poultry within a radius of 3 km (2 miles) had been culled, it said. Birds had been vaccinated and the area sealed off and disinfected.

Premier Wen Jiabao warned this week that the country was facing a “very serious situation” as the disease had not been brought under control and was likely to spread.

China has yet to report a human case of bird flu, which has killed over 60 people in Asia since 2003, though the World Health Organisation is helping probe a possible human case in Hunan province, which had an outbreak in October.