Migratory birds die from bird flu in Mongolia
Published: 8/8/2005
BEIJING - A mysterious disease that killed 76 swans and wild geese in northern Mongolia was a strain of avian flu, Chinese state media said Monday, quoting the Mongolian government.
The birds died at a lake in Hovsgol province near the Russian border in late July and have since been found to have been infected with bird flu, Mongolian officials said in the capital Ulan Bator, according to Xinhua news agency.
The infected birds were all migratory although it was not made clear which strain of bird flu was responsible.
No human, farm poultry or animals were found to have been infected so far, it said.
The Mongolian government is currently taking measures to prevent the disease from spreading and all the dead birds have been buried, it added.
In May 6,000 migratory birds died in China's Qinghai province from an outbreak of avian influenza.
The World Health Organization has warned that many Asian countries have not drawn up plans to fight a possible flu pandemic, even though 60 people have died of bird flu in the region since 2003.
Experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate into a form easily passed from person to person, creating a powerful new strain of influenza that could catch governments off guard and kill millions of people worldwide.
08/08/2005 10:58 GMT |
