Tibet is the latest province in China to be struck by concentrated outbreaks of type A foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in pigs and cattle.
In the past three months, the virus was reported in Guangdong Province, with nearly 1,000 pigs slaughtered in late February, followed by Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, where cows were culled.
Shigatse City, the second largest city in Tibet, is now experiencing the epidemic in cattle. Local authorities have sealed off the infected area and culled more than 150 diseased animals, as well as the remaining healthy ones in the herds to minimize the chance of infection.
With the H7N9 bird flu virus spreading from eastern China, the public is already concerned about animal products, and many are avoiding consumption of poultry meat and eggs.
To date, 23 people have died of more than 100 infected, and the virus has now arrived in Fujian Province, according to state mouthpiece Xinhua.
More than 16,000 dead pigs were dumped in the Huangpu River upstream of Shanghai last month, exposing the black market in pork made from diseased pigs, and causing many Chinese to stop eating the nation’s favorite meat.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture has received hundreds of calls about different species of dead wild birds, but authorities say that none were infected with the H7N9 virus, according to a recent report by the Beijing Morning Post.
Netizens reported numerous dead birds earlier this month with dead sparrows found in the capital of Jiangsu Province, and other species found dead in Hubei and Sichuan provinces.
Meanwhile, live poultry markets have been shut down in cities where people have died of bird flu, such as Shanghai and Huzhou, and various bird culls have been initiated.
Read the original Chinese article.
