China has halted the spread of bird-flu and foot-and-mouth disease which was recently discovered in animals and birds. CRI reporter Xiaoyu tells us how the Ministry of Agriculture has been able to contain the problem.
Foot and mouth disease was discovered in 4 regions in China during April and May. And an outbreak of the Avian influenza has killed more than 1000 wild birds in west China.
Foot and mouth disease is highly contagious among cattle and other cloven hoofed animals. Once it was discovered, the local and central agricultural departments immediately began investigating and launched their emergency plan. At Friday's news conference, Chinese chief veterinarian Jia Youling from China's Ministry of Agriculture says the government has been successful in preventing any further spread of the disease. "We immediately closed off affected spots and surrounding regions. The expert team was send to supervise the strict disinfection efforts. Scientists from national lab then collected samples for further epidemiological studies. Emergent vaccination is conducted in all this regions."
In total, over 4-thousand cattle have been killed or culled, including the more than 500 in a farm in Hebei province. Though they had no symptoms of the disease, the monitoring system reported the virus found in the herd.
All the cattle in these regions have been vaccinated and cattle feeding in the coming 6 months are forbidden in farms discovered with the disease. Farmers whose animals are killed or culled are compensated four-to-six thousand yuan per cow.
This is the first time the Asian type I foot and mouth disease has been discovered in China. The virus can not be transmitted to humans. The source of the virus has not been traced.
In response to the recent bird flu outbreak in Qinghai province, the chief veterinarian says the birds killed came from south and central Asia, so other parts of China should not be affected. "There are 3 major migrating routs for birds in China. The recent outbreak appeared in the western route, from south and central Asian countries to the northern part of the Indian Peninsula, then over Tibet and Himalayas to Qinghai province.
Because the bar-headed geese that were killed most in this outbreak were only found on this route, so other parts of China won't be affected."
The virus, which has killed more than 1000 migrant birds, is separated from dead birds and scientists haven't found any similar gene like that in the H5N1 virus that can be transmitted to humans. Jia Youling says reports of the bird flu spreading to people in the province is unfounded.
A series of measures have been taken to prevent the spread from wild birds to domestic ones and humans. The government ordered all ducks, geese and other poultry in the province to be vaccinated. All nature reserves in the province were closed to the public and farms near bird migration routes elsewhere were ordered to vaccinate poultry.
China experienced a large-scale outbreak of bird flu last year, and hundreds of thousands of birds were culled.
Experts has warned the bird flu virus would evolve the ability to spread rapidly between humans, sparking a global epidemic that will hit developing countries hardest.
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