Isolation ends in China's first bird flu-hit town

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 23, 2004

Isolation ends in China's first bird flu-hit town

An official of Long'an County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced Sunday morning the ending of isolation imposed on the county's Dingdang Town, which had been stricken by the deadly H5N1strain of avian flu late last month.

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Isolation ends in China's 1st bird flu-hit town

Tang Bowen, magistrate of Long 'an County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, announced Sunday morning the ending of isolation imposed on the county's Dingdang Town, which had been stricken by the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu late last month.

It is the first bird flu-affected area in China relieved out of isolation. The move was based on the official prescription on lifting isolation imposed on highly pathogenic avian flu-afflicted areas after thorough examinations from Chinese agricultural experts.

Since the bird flu broke out on Jan. 23, governments at all levels took resolute control measures, paving way for the day to lift the isolation, said, Bi Qiang, a regional government official in charge of bird flu control.

It had been confirmed that ducks dying in a farm in Dingdang Town, Long'an County, were caused by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus. The local governments slaughtered 14,000 poultry within a three km radius of the duck farm, and vaccinated all poultry within five km of the duck farm. The area had been closed off under animal epidemic prevention laws.

The quarantine-lifting decision was made after thorough examinations from Chinese agricultural experts. Four other areas afflicted with bird flu are being checked for whether similar decisions can be made, according to the China National Avian Influenza Prevention Headquarters officials.

"I want to express my gratitude to those who cared for and helped us," said Huang Shengde, owner of the duck farm in question. "I will continue to raise ducks as soon as it is safe to do so, but I must handle vaccinations work carefully."

Bird flu control spokesman with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said Sunday in Beijing that the bird flu in Dingdang Town of Long'an County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, had been uprooted and the area had been lifted out of isolation.

The ministry received a report from Guangxi that no new bird flu cases had been discovered or confirmed for a succession of over 21 days since the last poultry in the affected area of the town was slaughtered as stipulated.

"We are told that emergent quarantine measures such as isolation, culling of poultry confirmed of bird flu, disinfection of poultry farms, as well as inoculation of poultry being threatened by bird flu were carried out around Dingdang Town, and the local quarantine officers of Guangxi supervised the quarantine efforts at the area," said the spokesman.

Experts who were sent to assess the result of the bird flu control efforts concluded that the outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu found in Dingdang Town had been uprooted and the area met the requirements for being lifting out of isolation as stipulated in the Emergent Countermeasures Against Bird Flu of China and Technical Standards Regarding Fight Against Bird Flu.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Agriculture urged local organizations for supervision over animal quarantine to tighten the monitoring of bird flu in Dingdang and to prevent the occurrence of new bird flu cases.

It usually takes at least 21 days from the outbreak of the epidemic to the lifting of isolation. It is based on the incubation period of a virus set by international organizations on animal health.

"We are not going to relax our vigilance after the lifting of the quarantine," said the town's head Lin Yi. "More work still needs to be done to improve our epidemic-control mechanisms to prevent any resurgence of the disease."

By People's Daily Online

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