H5N8 avian influenza outbreak in Beijing, the first notification in the mainland

Officials recently notified for the first Time of an H5N8 avian influenza outbreak in the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park in Beijing. Pictured are visitors gathered in front of the Summer Palace ruins in Beijing on Feb. 19, 2014.

In recent years, outbreaks of African swine fever, plague, bird flu, hepatitis A and CCP virus (Wuhan pneumonia) have broken out in various parts of China, while the recent H5N8 bird flu outbreak in Beijing was the first official notification.

The news office of the Ministry of Agriculture and rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said in a news release on February 1 that a wild swan H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak occurred in Beijing.

The Chinese Center for Animal Disease Prevention and Control reported that a wild swan H5N8 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak occurred in the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park in Haidian District, as confirmed by the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory.

The report also stated that 15 wild birds were inhabiting the infected site, with 3 illnesses and 3 deaths.

This is the first known official notification of an H5N8 subtype HPAI outbreak in mainland China.

The outbreak of various types of avian influenza in mainland China has occurred in various parts of the country at the same time as the virus Epidemic in the CCP continues to spread.

On December 21, 2020, according to the Hunan Provincial CDC, Hu Moumou of Ningyuan County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, contracted the disease at a live poultry trading market in the county and on December 19, was tested and confirmed to be infected with H5N6 avian influenza. The patient is currently being treated in the ICU ward of a hospital in Ningyuan County and still cannot be taken off the ventilator.

According to media reports, from December 20, all farmers’ markets in Ningyuan County were suspended for live poultry trading. The city has at least eight major farmers’ markets in the county and 44 farmers’ bazaars in the townships. The report said these markets have been cleaned up and decontaminated, but the report did not disclose where the source of the bird flu was.

On April 14 last year, a video posted by a netizen showed an outbreak of bird flu in Vantage County, Shandong Province, which was so fierce that tens of thousands of chickens died in 2 and a half hours and many farmers lost their homes. In the video, the farmer said that in just 2 and a half hours at noon, all the chickens in the chicken coop died. But the local government simply had no time to deal with the bird flu epidemic.

On February 9, the news was released by the press office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China that an outbreak of H5N6 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza had occurred in poultry kept in a farm in Xichong County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province. The farm stocked 2,497 poultry, with 1,840 morbidity and mortality, and 2,261 poultry were culled locally.

On February 1, according to the official notification, an outbreak of H5N1 subtype highly pathogenic avian influenza occurred in broiler chickens kept by a farmer in Shuangqing District, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province. The farmer had 7,850 broiler chickens in stock and 4,500 of them died of the disease. Following the outbreak, 17,828 poultry were culled locally.

A month before Shaoyang City reported the outbreak, the Education Bureau of Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, issued a notification of an influenza A outbreak in the senior high school of Guangzhou No. 1 High School, with a total of 114 cases across the school, including 12 confirmed cases.

Influenza A virus is a common influenza virus, and the most prone to mutation, a subtype of influenza A virus is known as “bird flu”, bird flu is an acute infectious disease, the virus genetic mutation can infect humans, most accompanied by severe pneumonia, serious heart, kidney and other organ failure leading to death, the disease death rate is very high. Influenza A has caused several worldwide pandemics.

In addition to the avian influenza and Wuhan pneumonia outbreaks mentioned above, there have been successive outbreaks of African swine fever, plague and hepatitis A in mainland China in recent years.