Authorities in Guangzhou, capital of south China's
Guangdong Province,?have banned backyard chicken rearing
in its urban areas after a local man died from bird flu last
week.
Community officials have been ordered to see to it that urban
chicken farmers cull their backyard stocks immediately and those in
the rural areas have their birds examined regularly, the
Information Times quoted a senior agricultural official as
saying yesterday.
Canteens in the city have been forbidden from keeping live birds
or culling the birds under their roofs. All live poultry markets
have been ordered to close one day each week for a thorough
disinfection.
The 32-year-old man surnamed Lao who died a week ago was the
ninth bird flu fatality on the mainland. He had frequently visited
wet markets before he died in a Guangzhou hospital March 2.
His girlfriend surnamed Zhang, who had shown symptoms of fever
and cough late last month, was cleared of the virus Monday, with
her quarantine period to end this week.
All poultry traders in the 12 wet markets where Lao had visited
also had their blood samples taken for lab tests, the Times report
said.
Meanwhile, the city's health bureau has urged all schools to
examine the health of their students each morning and trace those
who fail to appear.
The bureau also offered to give away pamphlets teaching the
public about preventive measures against flu.
The city has since late last year set up 17 monitoring stations
for the surveillance of migratory birds, which are said to be
accountable for the spread of the H5N1 virus. More than 100,000
migratory birds pass through Guangzhou between October and March
each year.
Forestry officials have also called on residents to stay away
from wild birds.
(Shenzhen Daily March 9, 2006)