Bird flu outbreak a potential disaster
(Agencies/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-09 15:10

Farms in the region were highly concentrated, he said, meaning that any problems in vaccinating poultry could result in the epidemic spreading.

"If we miss the chance to exterminate the virus in the early stages, then the difficulty in wiping it out will increase by several times as will the spread of the epidemic," Du said. "We must fully recognize that at present there is a possibility that the epidemic will spread and expand. This is not an exaggeration to scare people."

Health authorities fear the bird flu could kill millions of people worldwide if the virus increases its capacity to jump the species barrier from birds to humans, and becomes an easily transmissible human flu.

A warning board has been erected near the road enrout to the Heishan County, northeastern Liaoning Province. The Chinese character reads "Bird Flu Area". [newsphoto]

The bird flu has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Although no human cases of the bird flu have been documented in China, the World Health Organization is currently investigating whether three Chinese residents, one of whom has died, caught the disease in central Hunan Province last month.

Du said the three outbreaks other than Liaoning -- in Hunan, Inner Mongolia and Anhui -- were all under control, describing the situations eslewhere as "rather good."

The government has allocated 10 million dollars to fight the disease in Liaoning and ordered police and the paramilitary to help in the cull of the birds.