There is little likelihood that, because of intensified vaccination efforts, there will be a major bird flu outbreak in China this year, according to Jia Youling, chief of the Veterinary Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture, yesterday.

But since there is a chance that vaccines might be improperly administered in courtyards and farms in some remote areas, and as migratory birds fly north to their summer nesting grounds, the disease is still a threat, Jia cautioned.

"As of last Wednesday, 4.75 billion vaccines had been used throughout the country, and poultry in most regions are expected to have been vaccinated by the end of this month," he told reporters.

On the country's expertise in fighting bird flu, Jia said that it was a combination of culling and vaccination that helped bring the disease under control.

Last week, when United Nations coordinator for avian influenza David Nabarro visited China to make a note of what the country had done, he urged China to contribute its expertise and information to the global bird flu fight.

China has coordinated the world's biggest vaccination campaign and slaughtered 22.849 million poultry since 2005, according to ministry sources.

As a result, it stamped out all 35 outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus last year. No new cases have been reported in the last month and a half, Jia added.

He said that the ministry has been actively cooperating with international organizations in the control of the spread of bird flu, and has invited at least 30 experts from the World Health Organization and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization to visit epidemic sites and laboratories in China.

(China Daily April 11, 2006)