- Title: CHINA: Chinese authorities report two new cases of bird flu and one death
- Date: 20th January 2009
- Summary: YANJIAO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ZONE, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) HEALTH WORKER SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ON GROUND AT XING GONG MARKET HEALTH WORKER SPRAYING DISINFECTANT HEALTH WORKER SPRAYING DISINFECTANT INTO LIVE POULTRY STAND HEALTH WORKER SPRAYING DISINFECTANT ONTO COOKING UTENSILS DUCK GUTS IN CONTAINER PEOPLE AT XING GONG MARKET
- Embargoed: 4th February 2009 11:29
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Health
- Reuters ID: LVA84PW8E0LM0MGIU7H5SWN1ORB7
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: A woman in eastern China has died and a two-year-old girl is critically ill after becoming infected with bird flu, the Chinese Health Ministry said on Sunday (January 18).
China has confirmed three cases of the H5N1 virus in less than two weeks.
The new cases are emerging after almost a year of no reports of human infections.
A 27-year-old woman, identified as Zhang from Jinan, capital of Shandong province, died on Saturday (January 17) after falling ill on Jan. 5, the Health Ministry said on its website www.moh.gov.cn.
The two-year-old girl, surnamed Peng, was found ill on Jan. 7 in central Hunan province and later diagnosed with bird flu at a hospital in her home province of Shanxi on Saturday, the Ministry said in a separate notice.
There were no details on how the child became infected and there have not been any reports of outbreaks of the virus among birds in Hunan since May 2007.
Health authorities said earlier this month a woman infected with bird flu had died in Beijing after buying ducks at a market in Hebei province, which surrounds the Chinese capital, sparking emergency checks of local poultry markets. But officials did not find any signs of bird flu.
Experts said the cases were not unexpected as the virus is more active during the cooler months between October and March. But they also pointed to holes in surveillance of the virus in poultry.
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.
With the world's biggest poultry population and hundreds of millions of backyard birds, China is seen as critical in the fight to contain bird flu.
The latest infections bring China's total to 33 human bird flu cases, of which at least 22 have died. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
