(CN) ostrich farming

[Guest guest]

China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2003-02-11/104090.html

 

Medical project eyes bird's view

(LIANG YU)

02/11/2003

 

SHANGHAI: A venture between medical researchers and an ostrich breeding

company may give a whole new meaning to the adage " getting a bird's eye view

of things. "

If the plan to use ostrich corneas for human transplantation succeeds, it

could revolutionize the area of cornea transplant and give sight to many

people, otherwise condemned to a life of blindness.

 

Researchers at the Shanghai No 2 Military Medical University, funded by

Shanghai Pudong Xiechuang Ostrich Property Co Ltd, one of China's largest

firms engaged in breeding ostrich, are currently working on the project.

 

Although the precise timetable has not been disclosed, the researchers

involved are confident of its application potential if it can be proven that

an ostrich cornea can be used in transplants. If successful it will mean a

much more readily available source of material and be less costly than its

human counterpart.

 

Yet to the staff of Xiechuang, the cornea transplant project is just one of

a variety of areas they are attempting to develop ostrich by-products from.

Currently the main focus of ostrich breeding is as a rich and healthy source

of meat.

 

" What we really aim at is a special agricultural breeding industry, " said

Chen Hui, general manager of Xiechuang and also the vice-chairman of the

China Ostrich Breeding Development Association.

 

With 36 ostrich farms nationwide, scattered across the provinces of Jiangsu,

Zhejiang and Jiangxi, his company now has a total breeding volume of over

14,000 ostriches.

 

Artificial propagation and breeding of the bird, whose native habitat is the

grasslands of Africa and Arabian deserts, first began in South Africa in the

1980s. The first ostrich farms appeared in South China's Guangdong Province

in 1992, and now China ranks as the world's fifth largest ostrich breeding

country after South Africa, Australia, Namibia and the United States.

 

At the moment, there are 67 ostrich farms around China, each of which has

over 500 birds, said Chen.

 

In addition to the experimental project on the use of the ostrich cornea for

human transplant, Chen's company has also teamed up with Shanghai Jiaotong

University to develop serum immunoglobulin, a substance expected to

strengthen man's immunity against disease, from ostrich blood.

 

According to Chen Ling, professor of the university's Life Science College

who heads the project, his research team, after two years of effort, has

succeeded in producing serum immunoglobulin, which has passed the required

official test certification necessary before it can go on the market as a

compound health-care medicine.

 

While the university is in talks with Xiechuang to set up a plant in

Minhang, a suburban district of the city to produce the medicine, his fellow

researchers are also busy developing ferroheme from ostrich blood, which it

is hoped can be used to treat anaemia.