Selling of live chickens banned in Beijing

Live chickens for sale in China. (CP file photo)

International health officials attending a summit on avian and human influenza in Switzerland say the best way to prevent a human influenza pandemic is to stop the deadly H5N1 virus in birds. Delegates agree avian influenza is still very much an animal disease, but World Health Organization [WHO] influenza chief Margaret Chan says the control of the H5N1 virus in poultry and other birds should be the first line of defence in any plan to try to prevent the virus from becoming a human pandemic.

More than 150 million birds have died or been destroyed and 63 people have died since the flu resurfaced in Asia in 2004.

On Monday, the Chinese government took the unprecedented step of banning the sale of live chickens in the capital. Many Chinese consumers are avoiding poultry altogether.

Market stall holders in Beijing say it could be a difficult winter. "It will definitely affect us," said chicken seller Ma Yan Xiang, "but we have done well for the rest of the year so it is not too bad."

City officials say it is safe to eat chicken - and they are prepared if there is an outbreak of avian flu.

"If there is a confirmed outbreak, we will slaughter all poultry within a three kilometre radius," said spokesman Liu Ya Qing.

Although millions of birds have already been slaughtered in four provinces in the past month, millions more could be culled if the disease spreads.

Chinese poultry farmers face stiff fines if they do not co-operate.

China has not yet reported any human cases of bird flu, but it has asked the WHO to check tests on three patients, including one girl who died during an outbreak.

"It all may turn out to be negative. We need to do that investigation. But the fact that they are willing to discuss things when there's a clear doubt is extremely important and encouraging," said WHO spokeswoman Dr. Julie Hall.

There's still some confusion over whether any humans in China have caught bird flu, but so far China is being much more open about outbreaks of the disease and what it is doing about it than it was in 2003, when it tried to cover up the SARS epidemic.


source: CBC