(CN) Guangzhou village to cull 100,000 birds

[Guest guest]

Officials confident quick action will stop bird flu outbreak from

spreading

South China Morning Post

by Ivan Zhai

Sep 18, 2007

 

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All poultry in Panyu county's Sixian village, the site of a new

mainland outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, would be

culled within a few days, a Guangzhou official said yesterday.

Vice-Mayor Su Zequn said more than 100,000 birds would be destroyed

to prevent the virus from spreading.

 

" We would rather kill 10,000 ducks wrongfully than miss even one

[that has the virus], " Mr Su said.

 

About 130 workers started the cull yesterday morning, catching and

bagging all poultry in a three-square-kilometre area and burying the

birds in deep pits, Mr Su said.

 

Dead ducks were first reported on September 5 and nearly 10,000 had

died by last Wednesday. Panyu officials culled about 32,600 ducks

that had been in contact with the dead birds and police quarantined

the affected area on Thursday.

 

Tissue samples were sent to the Ministry of Agriculture late last

week and the cause of the birds' deaths was confirmed to be the H5N1

bird flu virus yesterday afternoon.

 

Bird flu experts said the public should not be worried because it was

an isolated outbreak and was unlikely to widen. " I do not think the

public need to worry about the case at all, " the director of the

Guangdong Animal Vaccination Centre, Yu Yedong , said.

 

The province implemented an emergency response plan, which was

developed several years ago, as soon as tests confirmed the presence

of H5N1 bird flu, he said.

 

" We had a similar experiences in 2004 when bird flu was found and

Guangzhou will be sure to control the spread of the virus this time, "

he said.

 

All ducks that died in the outbreak were reported to have been

vaccinated but Mr Yu insisted the vaccine was effective.

 

He said it took at least 21 days after injection for vaccines to

create enough antibodies to have any protective effect. Two-thirds of

the victims of this outbreak were ducklings that died during the

first to fifth day after vaccination, " which means the antibodies in

their bodies were not strong enough to protect them in time " .

 

He said all the dead ducks were broilers, which only took 30 to 40

days from hatching to be sent to the market. This meant there was

only time for one vaccination, so the virus likely had a better

chance to attack the ducklings, he said.

 

" For breeding and egg-laying ducks we can give two vaccine injections

because they have a longer time on the farm, " he said.

 

To enhance birds' immunity, Guangdong has asked all poultry farms to

give extra vaccinations and Mr Yu said the province's vaccination

rate was almost 100 per cent.

 

He said there was no clue as to the source of the virus and whether

it had mutated or not. " We are not responsible for answering this

question and all of us have to wait for the Ministry of Agriculture's

test results, " he said.

 

A Guangzhou peddler selling ducks in the downtown Jianshe village

market said the deaths of the Panyu ducks had only slightly affected

his business.