Four giant pandas die as virus strikes Chinese breeding centre

A giant panda has died from a virus that has already killed three other pandas at a rescue centre in northwestern China, state media reported today.

The six-year-old panda, named Feng Feng, succumbed to the canine distemper virus, a contagious and serious disease that has no specific cure and affects a variety of animals, especially dogs.

Symptoms include high fever, discharge from eyes and nose, sudden vomiting and diarrhoea. They are passed on from animal to animal through sneezing or coughing.

Feng Feng died after falling into a coma on January 8, though Xinhua did not specify when the death occurred.

That brings the panda death toll at the Sichuan breeding centre to four since December.

Xinhua said an additional four pandas were diagnosed with canine distemper but recovered.

The centre sent its healthy pandas to other reserves.