China orders mass slaughter of poultry after bird flu outbreak

sebaubi February 3, 2020 
 - By Richard Wood
Chinese authorities are facing a fresh disease outbreak – this one mostly affecting animals – but also potentially deadly among people.
The Ministry of Agriculture said on the weekend that a fresh outbreak of lethal bird flu had been found in poultry in the southern province of Hunan, and that officials had ordered the slaughter of 17,828 chickens.
In the new case, the H5N1 bird flu virus was found at a farm in the city of Shaoyang.
A photo from 2014 of Chinese officials testing for bird flu during a previous outbreak. (AP)
The farm had 7,850 chickens, and more than half have died from the bird flu, the ministry said. It called the strain “highly pathogenic”.
Bird flu is found naturally among wild aquatic birds but can infect domestic poultry and other birds.
It does not usually infect humans, although isolated cases have occurred.
The bird flu outbreak comes as China battles to stem the deadly coronavirus that has spread worldwide.
The H5N1 bird flu virus in this US Centres for Disease Control image is potentially fatal for humans. (AP)

Via 9news