The big, green iron gate to Qu Shuli's chicken farm has been shut tight over the past week.

The message the gate delivers is clear: No entry.

The farm, where over 35,000 chickens are being raised, has been on full alert since the first bird flu case was reported in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on January 27, according to Qu.

Located in the Daxing District of southern Beijing, the chicken farm, called "Shuli Breeding Centre," is one of the largest rural chicken breeding centres in Beijing.

"So far, our chickens are fine and healthy," said Qu, 41, owner of the farm.

"We are trying every means to protect our chickens until the virus goes away and, any contact from outside could be a source of viral infection," Qu explained after refusing the reporter's request to inspect the coops.

The farm, with 18 henhouses, a hatchery, a storehouse, a staff dormitory and an office, all spread over 3.3 hectares, is now an impregnable fortress.

Only four staff, who have not left the farm for more than a week are allowed to enter the henhouses and hatchery. Before entering, they put on disinfected white uniforms and stand under an ultraviolet lamp for three minutes to sterilize any contaminants.

Besides feeding the chickens, the staff check the birds' health twice a day, said Qu.

"The test results are reported to the local veterinary station by 4 pm every day," Qu added.

"We know how dangerous the virus is to our business so our response is naturally quick," she said.

The term "avian influenza" may be new to the media and public but it's familiar to all chicken breeders, said Shi Qingming, chief technician of the farm.

Shi has been raising chickens for more than 10 years, and started work at the farm when it was established in 2001.

"We regularly vaccinate the chickens and disinfect the farm, regardless of whether avian influenza or any other avian virus is present elsewhere," he said.

According to Shi, stud chickens, raised for breeding broilers, should be injected with six different types of vaccines a total of 15 times during the first 160 days of their one-year lives. Five of these injections are to prevent avian influenza.

The broilers, fed for around 45 days before entering the market, are given four types of different vaccines.

"And the avian influenza vaccines should be injected twice," said Shi.

Shi said the avian influenza vaccine they use is a mix of the H5 and H9 strains developed by Qingdao Biotech Research Centre based in Shandong Province and produced by Beijing Zhongmu Pharmaceutical Factory.

The coops are disinfected three times a week and the whole farm twice a week, he added.

All the disinfectant and vaccines are bought from big pharmaceutical factories that develop their products safely, he said.

"Strict control of human contact with chickens is the most important preventive measure," he said. "That's why no people from outside are allowed to enter the farm."

"A tiny mistake could lead to a disaster," he stressed.

"Luckily, not a single chicken we have raised has been found infected with any of the viruses. We hope this will be the case this time, too."

Almost all the big chicken and duck farms have similar routine vaccination and disinfection regimes, according to Shi.

And, as a result, there have been no bird flu cases detected so far in Beijing, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although Beijing is still regarded as a safe place to eat chicken, demand for the meat is declining and trade in live poultry has stopped at both farms and supermarkets.

Qu Shuli's biggest profit used to come from the selling of high-quality stud chickens to other chicken farms, but all her clients have cancelled their orders and contracts with a same explanation -- the avian influenza scare.

The only compensation for Qu is that the broilers they raise are still welcome in the marketplace because frozen chicken can still be sold.

Qu keeps track of the news about the bird flu on television and in the newspapers every day and she is keen to see an early end to the virus.

She said it's hard to calculate her losses, since they will depend on how quickly the disease is brought under control.

"I felt a little better when analysts predicted a quick rebound once the virus is contained," Qu said.

(China Daily February 10, 2004)