H5N1 Outbreak Confirmed in Northwest China
The Ministry of Agriculture reported it Tuesday, according to a Xinhua New Agency report. WHO reports 168 cases of human H5N1 infection have been confirmed in Egypt, 60 of them fatal.
Xinhua's English-language website reported June 6 that more than 6,200 chickens on a farm in China's northwestern Gansu province exhibited symptoms of suspected H5N1 avian flu, citing a report the previous day by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The farm is in a village in Luyang, a town in Jingtai county. The ministry reported 260 of the birds have died, and Xinhua reported the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory on June 5 confirmed it is H5N1 bird flu after testing samples collected from the farm.
"Local authorities have sealed off and sterilized the infected area, where a total of 18,460 chickens have been culled and safely disposed of in order to prevent the disease from spreading since the case was confirmed, according to the MOA," according to the news report, which said the ministry sent a team into the quarantined area to guide epidemic prevention and monitoring.
WHO reported June 7 that Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population has notified it of a new case of human infection with H5N1 -- a 4-year-old female from Kfr -Elsheikh governorate. She developed symptoms on April 25, 2012, was admitted to a hospital the following day, and received oseltamivir treatment upon admission. She was discharged from the hospital May 7.
"Investigations into the source of infection indicated that the case had exposure to backyard poultry," according to WHO's online report. "The case was confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories and the Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3), a WHO reference laboratory. To date, a total of 168 cases have been confirmed in Egypt, of which 60 have been fatal."