Bird flu viruses in China show geographical features (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-02-14 15:51
China's Ministry of Agriculture said Saturday the viruses of H5N1 from
suspected bird flu cases have distinctive geographic features, and are remote in
kin relationship to those that hit Hong Kong in 1997.
Quoting a report from the National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory, the
ministry said that four strains of the H5N1 virus were taken from bird carcases
suspected of carrying bird flu in Long'an county in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region, south China, Wuxue city in Hubei Province, and Wugang city in Hunan
Province.
Gene sequencing of the four strains has been completed, and initial analysis
of the results indicates the viruses are distinctively related to their
geographic locations, and are remote in kinship to the strains of H5N1 II bird
flu virus separated in Hong Kong in 1997, according to a spokesman with the
ministry on the fight against the bird flu.
On China's mainland, the highly infectious H5N1 strain of bird flu can only
be examined and confirmed by the National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory, based
in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
