Bird Flu Outbreak Reported in Sichuan

China Tuesday confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The 1,800 poultry which died in a village in the Dazhu County were confirmed to have H5N1, the Ministry of Agriculture said on its website.

H5N1 is the bird flu virus that scientists fear may mutate into a strain that can spread easily among people. The H5N1 virus has killed more than 70 people in Asia since late 2003 and is endemic in poultry flocks across parts of the region.

China has suffered numerous outbreaks in poultry since October and Beijing has took sweeping measures to stop the virus spreading and infecting more people, including a campaign to vaccinate all domestic poultry.

词汇：

confirm v. 确认
outbreak n.  (疾病的)发作
mutate v.  变异
endemic adj. 地方病的
sweeping adj. 规模大的
infect v. 感染