China has reported a case of a highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu in Shaoyang city in central China’s Hunan province.
The virus has killed 4,500 chickens of 7,850.
Local authorities have sealed off and sterilised the infected area, where a total of 17,828 chickens have been culled and safely disposed of, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said.
The H5N1 virus causes severe respiratory disease in poultry and could be transmitted to humans by contact and by staying close to infected animals for a long time. People infected with this virus are 50 per cent more likely to die than through severe acute respiratory syndrome (10 per cent death rate) and the new coronavirus ( 2 per cent death rate)
