Local authorities are keeping a close eye on the bird-flu
situation in the Panyu district of this south China city.
"The 68 people who came into close contact with the ducks killed
by bird flu are receiving two medical checkups a day and all of
them are said to be in good shape," a district government official
surnamed Zhong, said.
"The local health authority has initiated its emergency plan to
deal with any human cases in the village of Sixian, where the virus
broke out, and three other villages nearby," he said.
Anyone with a temperature above 38 C must report immediately to
the district disease prevention and control center, Zhong said. And
those who were involved in burying the infected ducks must also
undergo checkups twice a day.
"The incident is under effective control. I don't think it has
affected the local people too much," the official said.
Xiang Qizhao, a duck farmer from Panyu, said: "The price of live
ducks has dipped a little bit in the past couple of days, but I'm
confident it will soon get back to normal thanks to the local
government's immediate and effective measures to deal with the
epidemic outbreak."
Officials in Guangzhou said both the supply of poultry - about
480,000 birds per day - and the price were about normal.
Guangzhou is home to about 21.5 million chickens, 7.5 million
ducks, 1.4 million geese, 5.6 million pigeons and various other
kinds of poultry.
The bird-flu outbreak was reported early this month after more
than 9,000 ducks died within days of each other. The National Avian
Influenza Reference Laboratory later confirmed the virus was a
sub-type of the H5N1 strain.
The local government responded by immunizing all poultry and
sterilizing all farms in the district.
(China Daily September 21, 2007)