30,000 birds killed due to bird flu in Anhui, China

China confirmed a bird flu outbreak at some broiler chicken farms in the central province of Anhui, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture on Tuesday.

 

Local government culled 30,196 poultry birds after the outbreak, which infected 28,650 chickens and killed 15,066 of the birds, the statement said.

 

The outbreak was confirmed as a case of the H5N6 strain of the virus.

 

China also reported 13 fatalities from H7N9 bird flu in June, the government said in July, taking the death toll since October to at least 281.

 

China reported as many as 108 deaths from the virus in the March to May period, spurring further concerns about the spread of the deadly virus, according to data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

 

The death toll tends to drop towards the end of winter.

 

The National Health and Family Planning Commission did not disclose the location of fatalities or infections.

 

The H7N9 virus is likely to strike in winter and spring, and farmers have in the recent years ramped up measures such as cleaning regimes to prevent the disease.

 

China, the world’s third-largest producer of broiler chickens and the second-biggest consumer of poultry, has also closed some live poultry markets after people and chickens were infected by the avian flu strains.

Courtesy of uk.reuters.com

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