Concern at spread across borders
Source: Agencies |
April 12, 2013, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WITH another death in China from the new strain of bird flu, a UN organization has expressed concern that the virus could spread across borders in poultry.
Ten people infected with the H7N9 virus have now died in China.
The exact source of infection remains unknown, though samples have tested positive in some birds in poultry markets that remain the focus of investigations by China and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
Speaking in Bangkok, the FAO's Subhash Morzaria said: "This particular region is land linked and so there is a possibility that if, inadvertently or advertently, somebody moves infected poultry across borders we can anticipate the spread of this virus."
Morzaria added: "We are proactively initiating surveillance programs in neighboring countries like Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam which border China and are at particular risk and we are trying to understand how the poultry movement has taken place so we can identify more accurately where the risk is going to be."
The new virus is severe in most humans, leading to fears that if it becomes easily transmissible, it could cause a deadly influenza pandemic.
However, Morzaria said: "This new H7N9 virus hasn't been demonstrated to be transmitted between humans, so from that context we think that the H7N9 virus is not going to be a pandemic like H1N1 strains."
Morzaria reiterated that there was no connection between the outbreak and the thousands of dead pigs found floating in Shanghai waters in recent weeks.
Ten people infected with the H7N9 virus have now died in China.
The exact source of infection remains unknown, though samples have tested positive in some birds in poultry markets that remain the focus of investigations by China and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
Speaking in Bangkok, the FAO's Subhash Morzaria said: "This particular region is land linked and so there is a possibility that if, inadvertently or advertently, somebody moves infected poultry across borders we can anticipate the spread of this virus."
Morzaria added: "We are proactively initiating surveillance programs in neighboring countries like Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam which border China and are at particular risk and we are trying to understand how the poultry movement has taken place so we can identify more accurately where the risk is going to be."
The new virus is severe in most humans, leading to fears that if it becomes easily transmissible, it could cause a deadly influenza pandemic.
However, Morzaria said: "This new H7N9 virus hasn't been demonstrated to be transmitted between humans, so from that context we think that the H7N9 virus is not going to be a pandemic like H1N1 strains."
Morzaria reiterated that there was no connection between the outbreak and the thousands of dead pigs found floating in Shanghai waters in recent weeks.
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