[Curiously, IHT emphasizes the eight Chinese recent human bird flu cases lack of epidemiological linkage whereas Deutsche Press Agentur highlights the enzootic nature of H5N1 in Chinese poultry stocks ...! H5N1 IS CLEARLY ENDEMIC IN CHINESE POULTRY, AND SINCE YEARS! VERY BREAKING NEWS TODAY! - IOH]
WHO: China's bird flu cases don't signal pandemic
The Associated Press
Published: February 18, 2009
BEIJING:
China's eight bird flu cases last month do not constitute an immediate public health problem, U.N. health officials said Wednesday, but the country needs to step up its vigilance to combat the disease.
About 83 percent of China's 38 total cases since 2003 were reported from November to March, he said.
"All of them have been exposed to sick or dead poultry or wet markets, so there is a plausible explanation on how they can be transmitted."
He added there was no indication of human-to-human transmission.
Scientists have long feared that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has devastated poultry stock across Asia, could mutate and become highly infectious among people, triggering a deadly global pandemic.
Still, the cases in China have raised concerns because there were no large outbreaks of the flu among poultry in areas where humans fell ill, Troedsson said.
"It is of great concern for us. It's something we are raising, both with WHO and FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization), with the government," Troedsson said.
China has taken steps to control and monitor its poultry population in the last four years, said Vincent Martin of the Rome-based FAO, but there remain big "gaps" in its ability to monitor its poultry, he said.
"Definitely the Ministry of Agriculture is aware of this problem. They are taking millions of samples to check on the status of the poultry population but it's a huge task and a huge challenge for them," he said.
In addition, China's centuries-old method of "backyard farming," with small farmers living amid and raising livestock together creates immense obstacles to wiping out the bird flu virus completely, he said.
Worldwide, avian influenza has spread across 15 countries, with 407 human cases reported, 254 of them fatal.
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UN rings alarm bells over bird flu in China
Submitted by Sahil Nagpal on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 09:03.
UN rings alarm bells over bird flu in ChinaBeijing -
The bird-flu virus is nearly entrenched in China's poultry population and represents a threat to world health, UN experts said Wednesday.
He told journalists in Beijing after China reported five human bird-flu deaths so far this year that health experts were concerned about the breadth and intensity in China of poultry infections of H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly in humans.
Most human H5N1 infections have occurred after patients have had close contact with infected birds, but health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could easily be passed between humans and cause a worldwide pandemic.
"It is posing a pandemic risk," Troedsson said of the bird-flu outbreak in China's poultry.
"No one can escape it," he added. "It will strike the whole world."
A warning to China of a pandemic also came from another UN agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization.
"We should not be complacent," said Vincent Martin, an animal health adviser from the organization. "If it happens, it will be very scary for everyone."
He called for bird-flu prevention and investigations into how the virus spreads, warning that it was evolving.
The experts said they were also concerned that the most recent human infections in China were widely distributed across the country and could not be linked to nearby outbreaks of bird flu among poultry.
WHO has confirmed 407 human bird-flu cases since 2003 in 15 Asian and African countries, 254 of which were fatal. China has seen 26 deaths from 39 cases, eight of which occurred this year. (dpa)
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WHO: China's bird flu cases don't signal pandemic
The Associated Press
Published: February 18, 2009
BEIJING:
China's eight bird flu cases last month do not constitute an immediate public health problem, U.N. health officials said Wednesday, but the country needs to step up its vigilance to combat the disease.
Hans Troedsson, head of the World Health Organization in China, said the H5N1 flu infections, which included five deaths, have followed a historic pattern of increasing during the cold season.
"Why we don't suspect this is the beginning of a pandemic is that you have these cases geographically distributed and there are no links between them," he said in Beijing.
He added there was no indication of human-to-human transmission.
Scientists have long feared that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, which has devastated poultry stock across Asia, could mutate and become highly infectious among people, triggering a deadly global pandemic.
Still, the cases in China have raised concerns because there were no large outbreaks of the flu among poultry in areas where humans fell ill, Troedsson said.
"It is of great concern for us. It's something we are raising, both with WHO and FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization), with the government," Troedsson said.
China has taken steps to control and monitor its poultry population in the last four years, said Vincent Martin of the Rome-based FAO, but there remain big "gaps" in its ability to monitor its poultry, he said.
"Definitely the Ministry of Agriculture is aware of this problem. They are taking millions of samples to check on the status of the poultry population but it's a huge task and a huge challenge for them," he said.
In addition, China's centuries-old method of "backyard farming," with small farmers living amid and raising livestock together creates immense obstacles to wiping out the bird flu virus completely, he said.
Worldwide, avian influenza has spread across 15 countries, with 407 human cases reported, 254 of them fatal.
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UN rings alarm bells over bird flu in China
Submitted by Sahil Nagpal on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 09:03.
UN rings alarm bells over bird flu in ChinaBeijing -
The bird-flu virus is nearly entrenched in China's poultry population and represents a threat to world health, UN experts said Wednesday.
"It has the potential for a pandemic," said Hans Troedsson, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) representative in China, which has the world's largest poultry population.
Most human H5N1 infections have occurred after patients have had close contact with infected birds, but health experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could easily be passed between humans and cause a worldwide pandemic.
"It is posing a pandemic risk," Troedsson said of the bird-flu outbreak in China's poultry.
"No one can escape it," he added. "It will strike the whole world."
A warning to China of a pandemic also came from another UN agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization.
"We should not be complacent," said Vincent Martin, an animal health adviser from the organization. "If it happens, it will be very scary for everyone."
He called for bird-flu prevention and investigations into how the virus spreads, warning that it was evolving.
The experts said they were also concerned that the most recent human infections in China were widely distributed across the country and could not be linked to nearby outbreaks of bird flu among poultry.
WHO has confirmed 407 human bird-flu cases since 2003 in 15 Asian and African countries, 254 of which were fatal. China has seen 26 deaths from 39 cases, eight of which occurred this year. (dpa)
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