China Reports New Bird Flu Outbreak As Pandemic Fears Grow

EPIDEMICS

A global flu epidemic strikes every 20 to 50 years, and it is now more than 20 years since the last outbreak, Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, said according to Xinhua in September.

Beijing (AFP) Oct 19, 2005
China on Wednesday announced its first reported outbreak of bird flu in more than two months, saying the disease had killed 2,600 birds, mostly chickens, on a farm in its northern Inner Mongolia region.

The national bird flu laboratory confirmed that an epidemic on a farm near the Inner Mongolian capital of Hohhot was the H5N1 strain which is potentially lethal to humans, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Most of the dead poultry are chickens," said a government official surnamed Zhao, speaking to AFP by telephone from Saihan district, scene of the outbreak.

He said it was a small farm with less than 10,000 birds, mainly chickens, geese and peacocks.

The report came amid growing fears of a global pandemic after the disease was discovered in Europe.

Test results were awaited Wednesday on a suspected bird flu case on the Greek islet of Oinousses, to indicate whether it was the H5N1 strain that was confirmed last week to have infected birds in Romania and Turkey.

In China, the most recent confirmed case before this one was near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in August, in which 133 birds died and another 2,475 were slaughtered.

The brief Xinhua report did not provide any detail on when the latest outbreak happened.

It said the ministry of agriculture had immediately dispatched teams to ensure necessary quarantine and disinfection measures were undertaken.

"Currently, the outbreak has been brought efficiently under control," the agency said. "No new outbreaks have been discovered."

China has officially adopted a stoical attitude to the threat, but some individuals are speaking out about the danger they perceive.

A Chinese doctor who became famous for his efforts to curb the SARS virus warned last month that a global outbreak of bird flu could happen at any time.

Asia has been battling bird flu since late 2003, with vaccination campaigns and massive culls of tens of millions of chickens and ducks that have devastated poultry industries, particularly in Thailand and Vietnam.

So far, it appears that all human cases of bird flu contracted the disease from poultry, and not from other people.

But the World Health Organization has said it is greatly concerned that bird flu outbreaks that have appeared throughout Asia could eventually jump the species barriers to infect humans and lead to a global flu pandemic.

The Chinese government said late last month it had set up an alert system to combat potential flu outbreaks.

A national anti-flu group was established by the health ministry to monitor the coming flu season and ensure the preparation of vaccines and emergency medical response, it said on its website.

The move came at the start of the flu season, with schools in Beijing already reporting normal flu outbreaks among children, while tour groups traveling around China have been reportedly struck by flu-like illnesses.

The ministry said a new color-coded "Influenza Pandemic Response and Preparatory Plan" emphasizes its central role in coordinating a response to a potential pandemic.

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EPIDEMICS

Health Wrap: Of Polio And Pandemics

Washington (UPI) Oct 17, 2005
There was bad news on the health front this week. Bird flu arrived in Europe, and the polio virus showed up in Minnesota. On Thursday the European Union confirmed that a poultry farm in northwestern Turkey has been infected by the highly contagious H5N1 type of bird flu.

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