New bird flu case confirmed in east China

A bird flu-affected chicken farm is located in Chaohu, Anhui province, July 6, 2004. The affected area has been sealed off.

The national bird flu reference laboratory confirmed on Tuesday that the latest death of chickens in east China's Anhui province was caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.

The case happened at a chicken farm of the Juchao District, Chaohu City, east Anhui Province.

Officials with the Ministry of Agriculture said that the ministry received the report of chicken death on July 3 and soon dispatched a group of experts to the affected area to guide relevant works of prevention and control of the disease.

Sources from the ministry said that the local government has made necessary measures of slaughter or quarantine to prevent a spread, and sent samples to the authorities. It has also isolated the area following the death report in accordance with China's Lawon Animal Epidemic Prevention.

The local health authority killed all the poultry within a 3 kmradius of the chicken farm and vaccinated all the poultry within a5 km radius of the affected area.

Experts of the ministry said the farm is located on a slope in a rather separate environment close to the wide Chaohu Lake and all the chicks are bought from the local markets, where no avian flu case had been reported before.

A checkpoint has been set up to quarantine all vehicles going into or out of the affected area in Chaohu, Anhui province, where a bird flu-affected chicken farm is located, July 6, 2004.

The experts estimated that the virus might be spread by migrants or wild water birds.

The ministry has informed the case to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, World Health Organization (WHO), relevant authorities of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The ministry confirmed the first contraction of H5N1 strain of bird flu on January 27 at a duck farm in the Dingdang Township, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

On March 16, the authority lifted quarantine on the last two affected areas in Lhasa of Tibet and Nanning, Guangxi's capital city.

During the period of time, altogether 49 cases of bird flu were confirmed and controlled. So far, no human contraction was reported.

HK's import of live birds, poultry meat from Anhui suspended

"In view of the isolated incident in Anhui Province, the importation of live chickens and poultry meat from other provinces will not be affected, including registered farms in Guangdong. We will closely monitor the situation in the following weeks," the spokesman said.

There has been no import of poultry meat from Anhui Province since the resumption of importation from the Chinese mainland in March this year.

Source: Xinhua