( CNN ) -- China has killed 13,000 birds in the country 's far northwest to control what it called an epidemic of bird flu , state media reported Tuesday . Since the end of 2003 , the H5N1 virus has infected birds in over 60 countries in Africa , Asia and Europe . Five hundred fowl that had died in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region tested positive for the H5N1 virus , according to China 's Ministry of Agriculture . In late January , China confirmed its sixth case of bird flu in a human . The ministry said at the time that , although further human bird flu cases were possible throughout China , there would n't be a large-scale outbreak , state run news agency Xinhua and CCTV reported . The country also announced it was setting up a nationwide network to test for the H5N1 virus . Following a bird flu outbreak in late January , India culled more than 4,000 birds in the remote northeastern state of Sikkim . Health officials also detected dozens of cases of upper respiratory infection among humans , but none of the patients had any history of handling sick poultry , a government spokesperson said . Sikkim borders Nepal and China . Since the end of 2003 , the H5N1 virus has infected many species of birds in more than 60 countries in Africa , Asia and Europe . It has not been found in birds in North or South America or the Caribbean , according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations . Human-to-human transmission of avian flu is rare , but the virus has passed from poultry to humans in some cases . It has killed more than 200 people since 2003 . China reported its first human-to-human infection case in 2005 . Of the 34 cases confirmed to date in the country , 23 had been fatal , the World Health Organization said in late January .
China killed 13,000 birds in northwest to control what it calls an epidemic of bird flu . 500 birds that died in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region tested positive for H5N1 . In late 2010 , China confirmed its sixth case of bird flu in a year . The virus has killed more than 100 people since 2003 .