Beijing has various fatal infectious diseases spread by animals well under control, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture Lei Decai said yesterday.

There have been no outbreaks of either foot-and-mouth disease and bird flu in the capital city for years, he said.

He made the remarks yesterday in a report to members of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress - the city's top legislative body.

Last spring, although a bird flu epidemic broke out in the country, Beijing remained free from any cases.

Pleuropneumonia in cattle, which once endangered the breeding industry in Beijing, no longer exists now, according to the official.

There have been no rabies case in Beijing during the past 11 years.

Other infectious animal diseases, such as hog cholera, Newcastle disease and anthracnose are all under control, Lei said.

Immunization programs have been carried out by disease prevention authorities at various levels.

A total of 2.4 million pigs were immunized in the spring against foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever, together with 21 million poultry against bird flu.

"This means that 100 percent of pigs and poultry have acquired immunity against those fatal infectious diseases," Lei said.

Meanwhile, 60 tons of disinfectant were offered to breeding farms, slaughterhouses and animal product markets free of charge from the local government.

A total of 2.4 million rooms of breeding farms were disinfected so far.

Besides livestock, wild animals at zoos are also within supervision from veterinary departments.

Supervision spots were set up in the Beijing Zoo, the Badaling Wild Life Park and several other parks that hold wild animals,

Currently, epidemics among wild animals in zoos are under control, sources said.

Quarantine has also been strengthened.

More than 16 million live animals were quarantined by May, together with nearly 30 million ones before being slaughtered.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress yesterday confirmed achievements made in the epidemic prevention and control of animals.

But problems were also pointed out.

Liu Baoshan, director of the Standing Committee's Rural Affairs Committee urged the government to increase investment in grass-roots animal epidemic prevention and control work.

"At the same time, many major infrastructure facilities such as animal epidemic prevention and control centers have not been established so far," Liu said.

Liu also pointed out that many animals were raised on waste products from hotel kitchens, which could result in epidemic transmission.

The Beijing municipal government submitted the draft of the Beijing Animal Epidemic Prevention Regulation to the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress for discussion and approval.

It was discussed by legislators yesterday for the first time and is expected to be voted on later this year.

(China Daily September 9, 2004)