AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=HKG24761&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-2
Tue 14 Nov 2006 6:35:54 GMT
HONG KONG, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A prominent Chinese health expert has called on scientists in Hong Kong and China to cooperate and conduct joint research to prevent a flu pandemic, a pro-Beijing newspaper reported.
The call comes after China's Ministry of Agriculture and Chinese scientists criticised scientists in Hong Kong and the United States in recent weeks for publishing a study saying that a new, vaccine-resistant strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus had emerged in China.
Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory disease expert based in China's southern Guangdong province, told the Ta Kung Pao newspaper that both sides must communicate.
"China and Hong Kong are one family and they may be facing a dangerous co-explosion of the common flu and avian flu in coming days. I hope there can be more co-ordination, sharing of information in the future," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.
While China rejected the findings by the Hong Kong and U.S. scientists, it agreed last week to share long-sought bird flu virus samples from 2004 and 2005 with the World Health Organisation.
Although the H5N1 strain remains largely a disease that affects birds, it has killed more than 150 people around the world since late 2003.
Experts fear though that it could start a pandemic that could kill millions of people if it were to mutate into a version that could spread efficiently among humans.
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Tue 14 Nov 2006 6:35:54 GMT
HONG KONG, Nov 14 (Reuters) - A prominent Chinese health expert has called on scientists in Hong Kong and China to cooperate and conduct joint research to prevent a flu pandemic, a pro-Beijing newspaper reported.
The call comes after China's Ministry of Agriculture and Chinese scientists criticised scientists in Hong Kong and the United States in recent weeks for publishing a study saying that a new, vaccine-resistant strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus had emerged in China.
Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory disease expert based in China's southern Guangdong province, told the Ta Kung Pao newspaper that both sides must communicate.
"China and Hong Kong are one family and they may be facing a dangerous co-explosion of the common flu and avian flu in coming days. I hope there can be more co-ordination, sharing of information in the future," he told the newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.
While China rejected the findings by the Hong Kong and U.S. scientists, it agreed last week to share long-sought bird flu virus samples from 2004 and 2005 with the World Health Organisation.
Although the H5N1 strain remains largely a disease that affects birds, it has killed more than 150 people around the world since late 2003.
Experts fear though that it could start a pandemic that could kill millions of people if it were to mutate into a version that could spread efficiently among humans.
,