responsible for the death of 290 birds

The Chinese government is extremely concerned about an outbreak of the deadly bird flu in Tibet.  The outbreak of the disease which appeared in a remote Tibetan village was confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture in China which conducted lab tests showing that the H5N1 avian flu was responsible for the death of 290 birds in the village of Sangda in the region Doilungdeqen.

A report which was compiled for the World Organisation for Animal Health also included information about how the authorities have dealt with the outbreak by culling thousands of birds and disinfecting the surrounding area. It is extremely good news that the Chinese health authorities are sharing information about outbreaks of bird flu in China and Tibet because previously they had been very tight lipped.

The World Health Organization has been very good at coordinating efforts to share information about the development of pathogenic avian influenza viruses around the world. Unless this sort of information is shared the danger to the global population is much more severe and it will make it more difficult for scientists to develop influenza vaccines and medications.

This is not the first time that there have been bird flu outbreaks in Tibet with other occurrences happening in both 2008 and 2009 resulting in the culling of thousands of birds.

The strategy for dealing with outbreaks of bird flu is immediate disinfection and culling of infected birds but obviously this cannot be applied to humans! Luckily so far the H5N1 virus is only very contagious among birds and the virus has not mutated to a point which makes it easy for it to be transmitted between humans. Many scientists however say that it is only a matter of when this happens rather than if it happens!

Many world governments have stockpiled both Tamiflu and Relenza which are considered to be the most effective medications for dealing with the H5N1 bird flu strain.