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China on alert for widespread bird flu outbreaks |
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BEIJING: China has warned of possible widespread outbreaks of avian influenza during the coming spring bird migratory season, as the health ministry announced two more human cases of the virus. "At present we cannot rule out the possibility of widespread outbreaks of the bird flu in China," the Xinhua news agency yesterday quoted Agricultural Minister Du Qinglin as saying at a parliamentary meeting. "We must remain on a high-level alert in all areas and continue to earnestly step up prevention and control work." His remarks on Saturday came as the health ministry reported that a nine-year-old girl and a 26-year-old woman in eastern China had contracted bird flu and were both in critical condition. The two cases brought the number of people stricken by bird flu in China to 14, with eight of them dying, the ministry said. The girl, surnamed You and from Zhejiang province, showed signs of fever and pneumonia on Feb 10, while the woman, surnamed Wang and from |
Anhui province, showed similar symptoms a day later, the ministry said on its website. Both have been hospitalized. The pair had close contact with sick or dead chickens before their illness, while the Anhui case occurred in a county where an outbreak amongst poultry was reported. In India, animal health officials have expanded a zone for slaughtering chickens in the west of the country after the discovery of a second outbreak of the flu. Chickens at two farms in Gujarat state near the Maharashtra state border town of Navapur, the epicentre of the initial outbreak, were confirmed positive with the H5N1 strain on Saturday. The properties were within a 10km zone where all farm birds were slaughtered after the initial confirmed outbreak. Ninety-five tests on people suspected of carrying the flu gave negative results. |
Meanwhile, the European Union urged its trading partners on Saturday not to overreact to an outbreak of bird flu in France after Japan banned all French poultry imports and threatened similar action against the Netherlands. Hong Kong has also suspended imports of poultry from France. Japan's moves have alarmed Europe's two biggest poultry producers after tests confirmed the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu had hit a farm in eastern France, the first case of the virus in domestic farm birds in the EU. In Ger many, H5N1 has been detected in a wild duck found dead near the Swiss border, officials said. Switzerland yesterday confirmed its first avian flu case in one bird, though further tests are needed to determine if it is the deadly H5N1 strain. Agencies |
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