China confirms fresh outbreak of Bird Flu

Health officials in China confirmed Sunday the country’s latest outbreak of bird flu. The latest outbreak, which is the country’s fifth outbreak of bird flu, took place in a marketplace in the southern city of Guangzhou in the Guangdong province, the officials said.

The bird flu outbreak killed 114 birds and triggered the culling of another 518, inciting neighbouring Hong Kong to suspend live poultry imports from the region.

H5N1, also known as A(H5N1), is a subtype of the Influenza A virus that is capable of causing illness in many animal species, including humans, while a bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or simply "bird flu", and is endemic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia.

According to Hong Kong's Food and Health Bureau, China's Ministry of Agriculture notified the administration that the birds tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

"Upon confirmation of the case, the government will ... (suspend) the import of live birds, live poultry and poultry products from the zone of 13 kilometers (8 miles) radius from the infected area for 21 days," a spokesman from Hong Kong's Food and Health Bureau said.

However, China’s Ministry of Agriculture said on its Web site that last week's outbreak in Guangzhou has been contained. "The outbreak has been effectively controlled," the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said.

Authorities in Hong Kong have already closed kindergartens and primary schools for two weeks to contain a seasonal flu outbreak.

The H5N1 virus though remains primarily a virus of birds, but experts fright that once it starts transmitting from person to person, it would sweep the world, leaving millions more to die and triggering a devastating human pandemic.

Since the deadly H5N1 strain re-emerged in Asia in 2003, it has infected more than 372 people and killed 235 of them, mostly in Southeast Asia, and the outbreaks have been confirmed in around 50 countries and territories, according to data from the WHO.

Most human infections have occurred after contact with birds infected with H5N1 virus, WHO said.

China, which raises more poultry than any other country worldwide, has so far reported 30 human bird flu cases, of which 20 have died, including three this year.