Chief Veterinary Officer Jia Youling, also director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary Bureau, spoke at a State Council Information Office press conference about bird flu on Friday afternoon.

Jia said that since autumn there have been one outbreak of H5N1 subtype avian influenza in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, one in Anhui Province and one in Hunan Province, as confirmed by the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory (NAIRL).

The outbreak in Inner Mongolia took place in Tengjiaying Village, Bayan Town, Saihan District of Hohhot. 2,600 chickens and ducks were affected and died, 91,100 domestic birds culled and destroyed. It was confirmed as H5N1 by the NAIRL on October 19.

The outbreak in Anhui was in the village of Liangying, Bianyi Township of Tianchang City, with 550 geese affected and killed, 44,736 poultry culled and destroyed. It was confirmed as H5N1 by the NAIRL on October 24.

The outbreak in Hunan occurred in the village of Wantang, Shefu Township of Xiangtan County. 545 chickens and ducks were infected and died, 2,487 poultry culled and destroyed. It was confirmed by the NAIRL as H5N1 on October 25.

Upon the detection of each outbreak the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) immediately assigned task forces to each village to steer control efforts, notified health authorities and made timely announcements to the public through media, Jia said.
 
He said governments at all levels in affected areas were fully committed to and followed the National Contingency Plan on the Outbreak of Animal Epidemics, the National HPAI Contingency Plan as well as national and MOA regulations. Control measures were taken promptly, with affected areas sealed off, poultry and poultry products banned from being shipped out and people and vehicles restricted from coming in. All poultry within a 3-kilometer radius of affected areas were killed and disposed of safely by burning and landfill.

At the same time, compensation was delivered to poultry farmers, and poultry houses, cages, surrounding areas, paths and people or vehicles coming in or out were completely disinfected. 290,000 domestic birds were vaccinated in areas under threat in the three provinces, and the vaccination effort was enlarged to include 6,962,000 animals.

Jia said that at present all three outbreaks had been declared stamped out and no new cases found. According to the Ministry of Health, there have been no reports of human infection. 

Jia said the movement of migratory birds still poses a serious threat as three out of eight world migration routes go through China. These routes involve many provinces and during migration there is intensive contact with local poultry that could lead to infection and outbreaks.

China also has a large poultry population of 14.232 billion, accounting for 20.83 percent of the world total. Of these, 3.735 billion are waterfowl, accounting for 76 percent of the world total. Waterfowl have shown comparatively high rates of being infected by and spreading the disease.

In addition, most poultry farms in China are family farms with basic and unsanitary conditions, posing difficulties for disease control.

Prevention and control is all important in dealing with any human infections, said Chen Xianyi, director of the Ministry of Health's Emergency Response Department.

"The health ministry will immediately initiate emergency mechanisms to find suspected cases early through monitoring people at high risk once infections are found in animals," Chen said. "Meanwhile, the health and agriculture ministries will exchange information and act together."

Patients suspected of bird flu infection will be quickly monitored and diagnosed, and those confirmed will receive timely treatment, Chen said, adding that measures will also be taken to prevent infections spreading.

(China.org.cn October 28, 2005)