Domestic poultry flocks are likely to escape the menace of bird
flu, despite the deadly strain claiming the lives of 604 wild birds
in Qinghai Province.
Local officials in the far-western province yesterday said the
odds of domestic poultry being infected was extremely low.
However bird flu is likely to hit poultry elsewhere in China
late this year, even though no new outbreaks have been reported for
three straight months, warned the country's Chief Veterinary
Officer Jia Youling.
"We've been keeping our eyes on migratory birds, while
vaccinating all of our domestic poultry population," Zhao Niannong,
deputy chief of the Qinghai Provincial Department of Agriculture
and Animal Husbandry, told China Daily yesterday.
The province, known as a stopping point for migrating birds,
confirmed this year's first death from the H5N1 strain of bird flu
a bar-headed goose in Gangcha County on April 29.
No new deaths have been reported in the area, which is to the
northwest of the Qinghai Lake, the largest saltwater lake in China
and a tourist attraction, Zhao said.
He said two other outbreaks of H5N1 in the province's Yushu
County and the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which were
confirmed on May 3 and May 24 respectively, were hundreds of
kilometers from the lake.
He added that the numbers of tourists visiting the lake had not
been affected, even though bird-monitoring posts have been set up
in the area.
The number of dead wild birds, largely bar-headed geese, has not
risen markedly in recent weeks, said Zhao.
By yesterday inspection teams had found 339 dead birds in Yushu
and 264 in the Golog prefecture.
Including the Gangcha goose the total number of dead migratory
birds has reached 604, compared with at least 6,300 in Qinghai last
year.
"There are only 150 herding families living in Yushu and three
families in the Golog epidemic areas, where virtually no poultry
are raised," said Zhao.
Vets have disinfected the regions where the dead birds were
found and warned local herdsmen to keep clear of dead birds to
prevent the virus spreading to humans.
Zhao said he believed the number of dead wild birds will not
rise "dramatically" at any time this year.
The official is also upbeat about the prospect of bird flu
control among domestic poultry in the province.
"Qinghai has a poultry population of only 2.15 million," said
Zhao. "We have enough vaccination shots for each and every domestic
fowl."
He added that stronger ultraviolet radiation in the sunshine on
the plateau province also helps kill viruses in the secretions of
wild birds.
Jia said the shrinking number of wild birds dying from bird flu
raised the possibility that some birds are now able to survive the
virus.
But when they migrate to other parts of the country and come
into contact with resident birds and domestic poultry, they may
spread the virus, warned Jia.
"Sporadic outbreaks of bird flu are still possible in the months
ahead," he said. "But by no means will we see bird flu outbreaks on
a scale as large as last year."
Yesterday, 300 scientists from more than 100 countries and
regions attended a conference in Rome to discuss bird flu issues
including the role played by wild birds in spreading the virus.
(China Daily May 31, 2006)