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Nation ready as bird flu outbreak is stemmed
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-28 00:10 The country's top veterinary officer said on
Friday he has confidence in China's avian influenza prevention measures,
following its success in bringing the latest outbreak under control.
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| Chinese researchers work at the Harbin Veterinary Research
Institute in Harbin, in northeast China's Heilongjiang province in this
March 22, 2005 file photo. [newsphoto] | The
country also successfully stamped out two incidents of Asia type I foot and
mouth infections, which inflicted cattle in Beijing and Xinjiang earlier this
month, Chief Veterinary Officer Jia Youling told a press conference.
"No domestic flocks have been found to be infected with bird flu, based on
investigations of the possible habitats and migration routes of wild birds in
Qinghai, and on a survey of 2.18 million fowl in the province," Jia said.
Nor had any human infection been detected, he said, citing Ministry of Health
findings.
However, he admitted the number of dead migratory birds in the northwest
province, including bar-headed geese and gulls, had increased five-fold to more
than 1,000 by Thursday.
This contrasted sharply with the initial report of 178 deaths on the "bird
island" in Qinghai Lake -- the largest saltwater lake in China -- and in nearby
areas earlier this month. The deaths were later confirmed to have been caused by
the fatal H5N1 strain of bird flu virus.
Judging from the migration paths of wild birds, it is unlikely the epidemic
would spread to other parts of China, Jia said.
Before the Qinghai case, China's first outbreak of bird flu for nearly a
year, monitors tested 413,000 samples nationwide between January and April and
found no sign of bird flu contagion, he said.
In line with the Law on the Prevention and Control of Animal Diseases,
Qinghai authorities sealed off and disinfected the affected area, and vaccinated
all vulnerable domestic birds nearby and along migration routes.
"So far nowhere in the world has a practical solution to prevent and control
avian influenza in migratory birds," Jia said. "All the measures we have taken
aim at preventing domestic birds and humans from becoming infected."
A key measure is to prevent people and domesticated flocks from coming into
contact with wild birds. Those who have come into contact will be put under
observation, the veterinary officer said.
Jia's confidence in the nation's bird flu control has also been boosted by
China's development of vaccines against the disease.
On Wednesday, Chinese scientists said they had produced two new vaccines to
stop the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus to fowl, water birds, mammals and
humans.
Chen Hualan, director of the China National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory in
Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, said the new vaccines developed by her lab had
proved successful, with a 100 per cent rate of preventing infection by the H5N1
virus, according to a Xinhua report.
Foot and mouth disease
Apart from bird flu, China also confirmed two cases of Asia type I foot and
month disease in Hebukesaier County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and
Yanqing County in Beijing in early May, which reported 75 and 252 sick cattle,
respectively.
Some cattle in a beef cattle farm in Sanhe, a city in Hebei Province, were
also found to have been infected with the virus, resulting in a cull of 512 beef
cattle from the same herd, Jia said.
In total, 4,383 cattle were slaughtered as part of a drive to curb the spread
of the disease, the source of which is still under investigation.
Cattle farmers will get compensation of up to 6,000 yuan (US$723) for each
animal culled.
"The disease is under effective control and has not spread," Jia confirmed.
Foot and mouth disease affects cows, sheep, goats and other cloven-footed
animals. It is highly contagious in cattle but harmless to humans, he said.
Even from the perspective of international trade, China has no intention of
hiding an outbreak of foot and mouth, Jia said in response to a complaint about
the delay in reporting the disease.
Since 1999, when type O foot and month disease was detected in China, it has
been impossible for the country to export cloven-footed animal products.
The delay in media reporting was partly due to the time required to get
laboratory confirmation of infections, he said.
Animal products from the country's epidemic-free zones, built according to
World Organization for Animal Health and World Trade Organization guidelines,
sell well abroad, he said.
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