Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Tibet

The Chinese government has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu in Tibet.

Officials said 132 poultry have died from the virus and another 7,698 were culled in a village outside Lhasa in the outbreak that began Feb. 6, Xinhua said Wednesday. It is the second outbreak in Tibet this year.

The National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory said the virus was a subtype of the H5N1 strain.

An outbreak in Tibet's Gongga County last month killed 1,000 poultry and led to the culling of an additional 13,080 birds, the news service said.

A 22-year-old man in China's Hunan province died of the virulent H5N1 strain on Jan. 24. The World Health Organization said 18 people have died in China from the H5N1 virus since 2003.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International