A nation-wide immunization check has been launched in China's
vast rural areas to ensure the bird flu epidemic remain under
control.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said in its website
Wednesday that 31 groups of inspectors have been dispatched to 248
villages selected from 62 counties in the country.
The campaign was organized by the China Animal Disease Control
Center (CADC), a newly-established department under the Ministry of
Agriculture.
Officials with the CADC said some underdeveloped regions, in
mountainous and lake areas that lie along the flight paths of
migratory birds and poultry market fairs and regions that have
reported cares of the bird flu will be the key areas for the
immunization inspection.
Chinese government hopes that the check will find out whether
its previous immunization efforts worked to prevent the spread of
the bird flu.
The campaign may also help inform the government of existing
problems, said officials with the CADC.
The Ministry of Agriculture started to prepare the CADC since
March this year. In the past months, the new center which is
undergoing trial operations, has been involved in containing
outbreaks of the bird flu and the foot-and-mouth disease.
The CADC will be officially inaugurated on Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2006)