Wild birds likely triggered avian flu outbreaks

The two bird flu outbreaks reported in Central China's Hunan and Southwest China's Sichuan provinces earlier this month were likely caused by wild birds, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Tuesday.

On Feb 1, the ministry reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza in Shaoyang, Hunan province, and on Feb 9 reported a deadly H5N6 avian influenza in Nanchong, Sichuan province.

The two outbreaks reminded people that there are many ways for the transmission of infectious animal diseases and one can never be too cautious about the prevention and control of avian influenza, Yang Zhenhai, an official with the ministry, said at a news conference.

The two outbreaks took place at two small farms, he said. The two farms had 10,347 chickens and 6,340 of the chickens have died from the contagion. Local authorities culled 28,214 poultry after the outbreak, Yang said.

No human cases of avian influenza have been reported. All people in close contact with the poultry are healthy and tested negative for the virus, he said.

The country has implemented mandatory vaccination for H5 avian influenza in 2005 and H7 avian influenza in 2017, Yang said, adding that the outbreak has since been contained and there has been a significant decrease of infection and in the death rate of deadly avian influenza among humans.

There has been a very low rate of avian influenza among chickens and humans, and people can eat poultry products that have passed quarantine inspections, he said, adding that there were four outbreaks of avian influenza reported in China last year.