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Bird flu epidemic forecast as cold weather deepens
Source: Xinhua |
January 20, 2009, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A CHINESE health expert said yesterday that the country was likely to experience "an epidemic" of human bird flu cases in the next month or two.
The warning came as China confirmed its fourth human case of bird flu in January - including two deaths - after almost a year without any.
"The situation urges us to further strengthen prevention and supervision over the epidemic and ensure early detection and diagnosis when new cases are found," said Shu Yuelong, vice director of virus control and prevention at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Winter and spring are prime seasons for bird flu Shu said.
More than 70 percent of bird flu cases reported in China occurred in those seasons because the virus is more active at lower temperatures.
Shu advised the public to stay away from sick or dead poultry and reduce contact with live poultry.
China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighboring countries, the Ministry of Agriculture has said. Other threats come from the brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking preventive measures at loosely managed household farms.
China's latest cases appear to have no connection, and no recent outbreaks of the virus among poultry had been reported, Shu said.
Teenager sick
The latest case of a human infection involved a teenage boy.
The student surnamed Wu fell ill on January 8 in Guizhou Province, a local health bureau official said yesterday.
The 16-year-old was transferred to a hospital in Huaihua City in Hunan Province last Friday when his condition worsened. He was in critical condition last night.
Wu tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.
The patient had been in contact with poultry, officials said, but further details were not revealed. People who had been in close contact with the youth were under medical observation. No others have been found ill so far.
In north China's Shanxi Province, a 2-year-old girl surnamed Peng was confirmed to be infected with the H5N1 virus on Saturday and was reported to be in critical condition.
No one who had been in contact with the victim has shown symptoms of the disease.
A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang died of bird flu in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday.
The first fatality this year from bird flu was a 19-year-old woman named Huang Yanqing who died in Beijing on January 5 after cleaning ducks.
The latest infections bring China's total to 34 bird flu cases, with 22 people dead.
The H5N1 virus remains largely a disease among birds, but experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted among humans and spark an influenza pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide.
The warning came as China confirmed its fourth human case of bird flu in January - including two deaths - after almost a year without any.
"The situation urges us to further strengthen prevention and supervision over the epidemic and ensure early detection and diagnosis when new cases are found," said Shu Yuelong, vice director of virus control and prevention at the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Winter and spring are prime seasons for bird flu Shu said.
More than 70 percent of bird flu cases reported in China occurred in those seasons because the virus is more active at lower temperatures.
Shu advised the public to stay away from sick or dead poultry and reduce contact with live poultry.
China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighboring countries, the Ministry of Agriculture has said. Other threats come from the brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking preventive measures at loosely managed household farms.
China's latest cases appear to have no connection, and no recent outbreaks of the virus among poultry had been reported, Shu said.
Teenager sick
The latest case of a human infection involved a teenage boy.
The student surnamed Wu fell ill on January 8 in Guizhou Province, a local health bureau official said yesterday.
The 16-year-old was transferred to a hospital in Huaihua City in Hunan Province last Friday when his condition worsened. He was in critical condition last night.
Wu tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.
The patient had been in contact with poultry, officials said, but further details were not revealed. People who had been in close contact with the youth were under medical observation. No others have been found ill so far.
In north China's Shanxi Province, a 2-year-old girl surnamed Peng was confirmed to be infected with the H5N1 virus on Saturday and was reported to be in critical condition.
No one who had been in contact with the victim has shown symptoms of the disease.
A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang died of bird flu in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday.
The first fatality this year from bird flu was a 19-year-old woman named Huang Yanqing who died in Beijing on January 5 after cleaning ducks.
The latest infections bring China's total to 34 bird flu cases, with 22 people dead.
The H5N1 virus remains largely a disease among birds, but experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted among humans and spark an influenza pandemic that could kill millions of people worldwide.
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