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高三最新时文阅读 (A)China in flu fight AS China faces up to a battle against bird flu, the government announced a range of control measures it believes will bring the disease under control. H5N1 avian influenza, known commonly as bird flu, has killed at least 16 people across Asia and was confirmed (确定) in China on January 27. No human cases have been found in the mainland but, as of Friday, 13 of the countrys 31 provinces, autonomous regions (自治区), and municipalities (直辖市) had reported the disease in poultry. It remains a difficult task for China to prevent and control the disease but the government is confident in the fight,said Vice-Minister of Agriculture Liu Jian. He gave details of a range of measures designed to stop the disease spreading. Poultry within 3km of infected farms is to be killed and those within 5km vaccinated. Meanwhile, there will be constant monitoring (监控) and daily reports on the disease across the country, and increased production of bird flu vaccines. Among the 11 Asian countries and regions affected by bird flu in animals, only Viet Nam and Thailand have reported human cases. The people infected were reported to have caught the disease from poultry. While the World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no proof of human-to-human transmissionof bird flu, it admitted that two sisters who died of bird flu in Viet Nam may have caught it from their brother. The big fear is that the disease could combine with a human influenza virus (病毒) to create a deadly new disease that kills millions of people across the globe. Peter Cordingley, spokesman of the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office based in Manila, the Philippines, said that Asian countries affected by bird flu should introduce a more healthy way of raising and selling chickens. Many Asian farmers live closely with their animals and sell live chickens on the market. This greatly increases the possibility of humans being infected with bird flu. They have to completely change their life