China's Xinjiang region
culls 55,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak
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[December 27, 2016]
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Xinjiang
region has culled more than 55,000 chickens and other poultry following
an outbreak of a highly virulent bird flu that has infected 16,000
birds, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday.
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The H5N6 strain of the virus was confirmed in Yining, a city of
500,000 people, and has killed 10,716 birds, the ministry said.
It is the fourth flu outbreak among poultry since October and brings
the total cull since then to more than 170,000 birds. Flocks are
particularly vulnerable to avian flu during the winter months and
sporadic outbreaks are relatively common.The culling comes amid
fears about the spread of avian flu across Asia, with South Korea
battling its worst-ever outbreak and Japan and India also killing
flocks.
South Korea is currently trying to contain the H5N6 strain, which
has caused 10 human deaths in China since April 2014.
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At least seven people in China have been infected this winter with
the H7N9 bird flu strain and two have died.
To bolster their defense against infection, Chinese poultry farmers
have scrambled to give their chickens more vitamins and vaccines in
recent weeks.
Beijing has banned poultry imports from more than 60 countries and
said any countries with highly pathogenic cases will automatically
go onto that list. Regional authorities in three provinces have
curbed live poultry trading in some cities to prevent the spread of
the disease.
The last major bird flu outbreak in China in 2013 killed 36 people
and caused more than $6 billion in losses for the agriculture
sector.
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In a statement on its website on Sunday, the Chinese Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention warned that the issue warrants
greater attention this year, because the disease is developing
earlier than in previous years, and cases are increasing more
quickly in some districts.
Delegations from Japan, South Korea and China gathered in Beijing
earlier this month for a symposium on preventing and controlling
bird flu and other diseases in East Asia, the Agriculture ministry's
website showed.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Josephine Mason; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)
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