Two experts from the Netherlands have arrived in Beijing to assist China's campaign against the highly pathogenic avian influenza, said the World Health Organization (WHO) China office spokesman Roy Wadia Monday.

He said the experts would offer advice on safety issues regarding culling and other issues, including assessment of the monitoring system and animal vaccination.

Wadia did not release the experts' names, but said these experts had recently assisted authorities in Vietnam, as the country grappled with its own outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

"Their expertise was also utilized during the Netherlands' outbreak of H7N7 avian influenza in 2003," he said.

Sources with the Chinese Health Ministry said the experts arrived in Beijing on Jan. 30 and had not yet asked to visit the locations where the bird flu was reported.

"The WHO is in the process of identifying more international experts across a range of disciplines so as to form a joint mission with the Chinese side," Wadia said, declining to tell when the joint mission would be set up and start operations.

China reported its first confirmed case of H5N1 bird flu on Jan.27 and informed the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the WHO. The Chinese side had expressed its willingness to cooperate with international agencies to fight the disease.

As of 8 a.m. Feb. 2, China had reported three confirmed bird flu cases in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Hunan and Hubei Provinces. Zhejiang, Yunnan, Henan, Guangdong and Anhui provinces as well as Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Shanghai Municipality reported suspected bird flu cases in separate locations.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2004)