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21 bird flu outbreaks in China
21/11/2005 10:43 - (SA)
Beijing - There have been 21 outbreaks of bird flu in China this year, a Chinese government official said on Monday as he warned the H5N1 situation in the country was "severe" and likely to get worse.
The outbreaks in nine different provinces caused the deaths of 144 624 birds, while a further 21.1 million have been culled, deputy agriculture minister Yin Chengjie said.
"Although some cases in affected areas have been controlled effectively, the whole situation of avian flu control is still severe," he told reporters at a briefing.
China had previously announced at least 19 outbreaks this year, including 17 since mid-October.
Yin warned the crisis was far from over, as the temperatures dropped across the nation throughout winter.
"The colder the weather is, the higher the risk of epidemics breaking out," he said.
Controlling the outbreaks is also getting more difficult as avian flu becomes more virulent, he said.
"The virulence of bird flu can not only lead to the deaths of chickens but can also affect water fowl such as ducks and geese," he said, adding that there was an "increasing virulence of avian influenza."
The way farming is carried out in China also makes epidemic control a tough challenge, he said.
"It's common to raise livestock together with the poultry in the family, which is difficult for epidemic control," he said.
- AFP
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