China-Poultry cull on massive scale.

CHINA - The authorities have culled 13,000 birds in Xinjiang province as the result of the first outbreak of H5N1 highly pathogenic avain influenza (HPAI) in the country this year.

China said it culled more than 13,000 poultry after discovering the H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in Xinjiang province, five days after saying none of the human cases this year were linked to outbreaks among birds, reports Bloomberg.

The outbreak in the northwestern province, which began at the start of this month, is the country’s first since December, China’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Yu Kangzhen, said in a report on 10 February to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris. It said 1,330 farmed birds were infected with avian flu and 519 died.

Authorities have vaccinated 350,000 birds in Xinjiang in an effort to stop the virus spreading, Mr Yu said in the report. China’s Ministry of Agriculture said the outbreak had been controlled, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

A 31-year-old woman died in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi on 23 January after contracting the H5N1 virus, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Jan. 24, citing the regional health department.

The Ministry of Agriculture said there had been no avian flu outbreaks among poultry in the provinces where human infections were reported, the official China Daily reported on 6 Febuary.