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Bird flu outbreak a potential disaster
(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-09 15:10 Farms in the region were highly concentrated, he said, meaning that any
problems in vaccinating poultry could result in the epidemic spreading.
"If we miss the chance to exterminate the virus in the early stages, then the
difficulty in wiping it out will increase by several times as will the spread of
the epidemic," Du said. "We must fully recognize that at present there is a
possibility that the epidemic will spread and expand. This is not an
exaggeration to scare people."
Health authorities fear the bird flu could kill millions of people worldwide
if the virus increases its capacity to jump the species barrier from birds to
humans, and becomes an easily transmissible human flu.
A
warning board has been erected near the road
enrout to the Heishan County, northeastern Liaoning Province. The
Chinese character reads "Bird Flu Area".
[newsphoto] | The bird flu has killed more than 60
people in Southeast Asia since 2003.
Although no human cases of the bird flu have been documented in China, the
World Health Organization is currently investigating whether three Chinese
residents, one of whom has died, caught the disease in central Hunan Province
last month.
Du said the three outbreaks other than Liaoning -- in Hunan, Inner Mongolia
and Anhui -- were all under control, describing the situations eslewhere as
"rather good."
The government has allocated 10 million dollars to fight the disease in
Liaoning and ordered police and the paramilitary to help in the cull of the
birds.
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