In recent history, H5N1 first appeared in 1997 in Hong Kong’s wet markets (live bird markets) and chicken farms. Its spread was contained in Hong Kong at that point following the culling of all poultry in the region. In 2003 the same virus resurfaced - suggesting it had never been eradicated - and spread relentlessly across East Asia, decimating the poultry population. In 2005, an outbreak in migratory wild birds in Qinghai Lake, China killed 6000 birds (Normile 2006b). The virus has since spread across countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, as well as some African countries. It has.
