China reported an outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 bird flu at a farm in Shaoyang city of the southern province of Hunan, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Saturday (Feb 1).The case occurred on a farm with 7,850 chickens, 4,500 of which have died of the bird flu.
The authorities have culled 17,828 poultry following the outbreak.
China is not alone in trying to tamp down the spread of this virus.Earlier this week authorities in India started culling chickens and destroying eggs to contain the bird flu virus.
And a different strain – the H5N8 virus – has spread throughout eastern Europe in recent weeks.A bird flu outbreak in China back in 2013 ended up costing US$6.5 billion in economic losses, according to UN experts.
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