Proper preventive measures could guarantee that all poultry passing through the Shenzhen airport was virus free, an airport source said Monday.

"Vehicles carrying poultry have to be disinfected many times. The poultry also has undergone strict examinations," said a spokesperson for the Shenzhen subsidiary of China Southern Airlines.

The airline was responsible for sending most poultry in and out of Shenzhen daily.

The airport has worked with a number of airlines to formulate and implement preventive measures. The prerequisite for chicken delivery is that they must come and go with certificates of origin and quarantine papers.

So far every chicken transported through the airport had been healthy.

(Shenzhen Daily February 3, 2004)