BEIJING — China confirmed Wednesday that bird flu had spread to humans and killed two people, despite a government-ordered slaughter of millions of chickens, ducks and other birds over the past two months.
The Ministry of Health confirmed three human cases of bird flu, according to the Xinhua state-run news agency.
Confirmation of human cases in the world's most populous country heightens fears the virus is mutating to a form that could be transmitted from human to human and trigger a global pandemic. Tuesday, China said it had begun vaccinating more than 5 billion birds nationwide.
Meanwhile, the European Union extended its ban Wednesday on importing live captive birds until Jan. 31, citing continued fears about the worldwide spread of bird flu.
China's first deaths from bird flu occurred in the eastern province of Anhui, where a 24-year old poultry worker died Nov. 10, and central Hunan, where a 12-year-old girl died Oct. 17. The girl's 9-year-old brother recovered from the virus and has been released from the hospital. Both fatalities lived close to outbreak areas and died nine days after falling ill with fever and pneumonia-like symptoms.
Since December 2003, the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 64 people in Asia. The Chinese government is responding with tough measures. That's in contrast to its initial cover-up of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome — SARS — in 2003.
Three-fifths of China's poultry is reared in family backyards. Methods to combat H5N1 run from high-tech to primitive:
Monday, China's science ministry unveiled the first vaccine aimed at preventing bird flu in humans. It promised clinical testing on people soon.
Hospitals must report suspected human cases within two hours; rural hospitals have six hours.
Farmers are digging holes on dirt roads around Beijing to ensure that trucks loaded with birds enter the capital by paved highways manned by inspection teams.
The government has tried to clear areas of central Beijing by having workers wave large nets at wild birds nesting or feeding there.
In Brussels, Belgium, the EU said the European ban on importing live birds, which covers parrots and other pets, would stay in place "subject to further review."
The EU in October imposed a temporary ban on the commercial imports of exotic birds — along with stricter rules on private ownership — after a parrot died in quarantine in Britain. The bird was believed to have contracted the H5N1 strain.
The decision to extend the ban was made by the EU's panel of veterinary experts and later was endorsed by the 25 EU governments.
The EU also restricted the movement of birds accompanying their owners until Jan. 31.
Contributing: Associated Press