Improving farming practice is fundamental to curb the spread of bird flu, and farming reform should be stressed more as a long-term solution, said a senior World Health Organization official.
"We cannot kill all the chickens and ducks to prevent bird flu from spreading among them and to humans; therefore, we have to make sure the chickens, ducks and humans do not mingle together," Dr Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said on Saturday in Beijing.
China has reported six human cases of bird flu this year, including two fatalities, and 31 outbreaks in poultry. Cases declined in December.
"It is too early to say the epidemic is under control," said Omi. WHO urged China to share virus samples "more promptly and more regularly" with the international organization.
Segregation is one of the fundamentally important methods of farming reform, Omi said, "but we cannot do it overnight, since China has a huge poultry population."
"That's why we have to step up improvement of the primitive farming practice in China's rural regions, especially the backyard feeding of chickens and ducks in many rural households," he said.
Omi noted that China has 14.2 billion poultry, and most Chinese rural families have close contact with chickens and ducks, which are kept in their backyards or even houses.
WHO has called for the training of more rural staff so they can help in monitoring poultry and detecting new cases.
He praised China's collaboration with WHO and other international communities on bird flu.
(Xinhua)