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…
