China Reports Two New Bird Flu Outbreaks, Bringing Total to 29

[Bookworm]

The situation gets worse every day.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...&refer=asia

 

 

 

China Reports Two New Bird Flu Outbreaks, Bringing Total to 29

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- China reported two new outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, bringing the number of cases to 29 in the country this year.

 

Yongzhou city in central Hunan province reported 402 poultry died on Nov. 18, and Shanshan County in western Xinjiang province reported 288 poultry died on Nov. 22, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on its Web site. China's National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory confirmed the birds were infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus, the ministry said.

 

Authorities in Hunan culled 13,481 birds within a three- kilometer (1.9-mile) radius of the infection site, the statement said. Authorities in Xinjiang culled 52,162 birds, it said.

 

The virus so far has infected about 132 people in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China and killed 68 of them, the World Health Organization said on Nov. 25. Bird flu outbreaks in poultry increase the risk of the virus mutating into a strain that's more easily transmissible between humans, leading to a pandemic that may kill millions.

 

China's government has reported three human cases and two deaths from the virus as of Nov. 25.