Experts: Claims that China is source of bird flu groundless

Animal husbandry and pathology experts in China Friday rejected claims that China is the source of the bird flu outbreak in Asia.

It had been reported that bird flu broke out in south China in 2003, and a combination of government cover-up and questionable farming practices caused the deterioration of the situation into current outbreak.

The claim said that when Hong Kong slaughtered poultry to curb a bird flu outbreak in 1997, Chinese farmers vaccinated poultry with the inactivated H5N1 virus.

It said the vaccine might not have been a good match with the virus, which caused the virus to "hide" without showing symptoms and unidentified transmission in trading.

Professor Li Kangran, of Guangxi University and director of Guangxi Poultry Cultivation and Poultry Disease Association, said the claim was groundless as the inactivated H5N1 virus could survive in cells, but was too weak to transmit between cells.

"The facts indicate that the vaccination could not be the reason for the bird flu in Guangxi," said Li.

Li said the claim of a "mis-matching" vaccine should be studied as it was an international problem which all kinds of vaccines, including human vaccines, face. But in history, there were few reports of disease infections because of mis-matching vaccines.

Wei Ping, member of World Poultry Disease Association, said that the claim was based on a theory that is highly disputed. The theory said large-scale and frequent vaccination could cause "vaccination pressure" and such a pressure might cause mutation of virus.

"But the theory is only a hypothesis and there is no consensus in this regard so far," said Wei.

Bird flu broke out for the first time in 1878 in Italy. So far, there is no proof for the strong mutation of such virus.

Li Kangran said that personal immunity system plays an important role in prevention of human infection. In Hong Kong, when the first case of human infection of bird flu was reported, the virus mainly affected the elderly and children, but not vets and poultry breeders who had more frequent contact with poultry, said Li.

"Human infection could be prevented if only we do a good job," said Li.

Experts said there was no cause for panic in China as the government had taken measures to slaughter poultry within three kilometers and compulsorily vaccinate poultry within five kilometers.

"This is internationally-recognized measure and could effectively control the spread of the disease," said Li.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue also said Thursday that such claims were incorrect, unfounded, unscientific and therefore irresponsible.

Avian influenza was a disease that humans had known about for 100 years, Zhang said. The sources and infection channels of the disease followed epidemiological patterns and required scientific study to understand.

Zhang noted that officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier that it was too early to target any country as the source of disease.

Including China, the epidemic has hit ten countries and regions in Asia. China confirmed its first case on Jan. 27 in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, but has reported no human infections. Hunan and Hubei Provinces in central China are listed as suspect bird-flu affected areas.

The Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant departments have banned poultry imports from infected areas and suspended poultry exports from Guangxi Autonomous Region, and Hunan and Hubei provinces.

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