Five officials guilty of dereliction of duty in the prevention of bird flu in Dazhu County in southwest China's Sichuan Province have been removed from their posts.

They proved incompetent in responding to the outbreak of the province's first case of bird flu, according to a circular released recently by the Dazhu county government.

Between December 22-25, 1,800 chickens and ducks died in three households in Liuyan Village in Yangjia Town in Dazhu.

At 11:30 PM on December 24, a major poultry farmer surnamed Liu reported the sudden death of many chickens and ducks on his farm to Liu Shengyu, chief of the Yangjia Town Animal Husbandry Station, and Feng Renfu, an official in the town government.

A government official said, however, that both ignored the reports and did not go to Liu's home to investigate the case.

The official said the guilty people also did not report it to leading officials in the town.

The circular added that Huang Jilong, deputy chief of the Dazhu County animal quarantine station, did not pay much attention after learning of the death of poultry in three households in Liuyan Village.

He did not send staff to the village to verify the case or report it to the county's animal husbandry bureau, the circular said.

Zou Gaoping, Party chief of Yangjia Town, and Zeng Jing, chief of the Dazhu County Animal Husbandry Bureau, paid inadequate attention to the case after learning of the outbreak, the circular said.

The Ministry of Health announced in Beijing on January 3 that it had confirmed an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in Dazhu and the epidemic had been brought under control.

In the wake of its first and only outbreak of animal bird flu in Dazhu, Sichuan had three human bird flu cases.

The first two cases occurred in January, and both patients died. The third case occurred in April, and the patient, an 8-year-old girl, is recovering.

She is receiving treatment for carditis, a complication of bird flu, according to Su Lin, chief of the emergency response office of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Health.

(China Daily May 12, 2006)