China has reported its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu since last year, when it seemed to have brought a widespread epidemic in poultry under control. This time, the virus has been found in wild geese in a nature reserve.
On 4 May, 178 bar-headed geese that had just completed their arduous annual migration over the Himalayas from northern India were found dead at Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve in western China. After initial denials, the Chinese agriculture ministry announced this week that the birds died of H5N1, and that the same fate had also befallen 340 gulls, cormorants and ducks in the reserve. China is vaccinating all poultry in the region, and has closed nature reserves to the public.
Scientists consider it unlikely that the geese carried H5N1 into China, though this cannot be ruled out. Rather, the deaths could show that H5N1 is continuing to circulate in China, despite ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.