The Ministry of Agriculture announced today that another outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in China, this time in the northeastern province of Liaoning, and that 8,940 chickens have died of the disease there.

It said chickens were found dead on family farms in a village in Badaohao Township, Heishan County in the prefecture of Jinzhou on October 26.

Local veterinarians initially thought it was Newcastle disease when they reported the deaths to the provincial animal health supervision administration, which made a preliminary diagnosis of bird flu on November 1.

Samples from the dead chickens were sent to the National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory, and it confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus two days later.

The disease has affected five other towns in Heishan, which is on the East Asia-Australia migratory bird route, and the ministry said experts believed this outbreak may have begun through transmission from migratory birds.

Twenty magpies and other wild birds have also been found dead there, according to the ministry.

A total of 369,900 domestic fowl within a radius of three kilometers have been culled and 13.9 million vaccinated, the ministry said.

Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin, together with a team of experts, is on his way to the affected areas and the provincial government has initiated measures with local governments to control the situation.

No human deaths have been reported in the outbreak, the fourth to be confirmed in China in the last 17 days.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2005)