Man dies of suspected bird flu in Guangzhou

[DB]

Man dies of suspected bird flu in Guangzhou

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1685863

Man dies of suspected bird flu in Guangzhou: report

Mar 3, 2006 ? HONG KONG (Reuters) - A man has died of suspected H5N1 avian influenza in southern China, just over the border from Hong Kong, a local newspaper said on Saturday.
The 32-year-old man frequently visited wet markets where chickens were often slaughtered, the South China Morning Post said.
He developed fever and pneumonia on February 22 and died on March 2, Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement late on Friday.
Hong Kong lies less than two hours away from Guangzhou by train and the flow of travelers between the two cities is heavy.
The risk of avian influenza appearing in the city was increasing, CHP head Leung Pak-yin was quoted as saying. "We expect there could be human cases in Hong Kong and we all need to be well prepared for that."
If Beijing confirms the case as avian influenza, Hong Kong public hospitals and clinics will be required to report any flu cases with unclear diagnoses to the CHP, the Post said.
Chinese authorities had attempted to muzzle news coverage, the daily said.
"The Guangdong propaganda and health departments jointly issued a notice to local media not to report on the case, saying there should be no coverage until it was confirmed," it said.
Although Hong Kong has been free of human avian influenza cases since early 2003, the city continues to screen the temperatures of people entering the city at immigration, the CHP said.
Experts familiar with the situation in China have always maintained that there have been outbreaks of H5N1 in birds in Guangdong province as early as the first half of 2005. Beijing has always denied this.
Despite outbreaks in several other areas of mainland China, this is the first time that Chinese officials have said that there could be a case in Guangdong province.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Man dies of suspected bird flu in Guangzhou

​

GUANGZHOU, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Guangdong Provincial Health Department declared on Saturday a suspect human case of bird flu was found in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.
The patient, surnamed Lao, died Thursday after all rescue work failed. He was 32 and a local resident of Guangzhou.
He started to show symptoms of fever and pneumonia on Feb. 22.
Preliminary investigation shows the patient had been long staying at a nearby live poultry slaughtering site when he carried out a market survey.
The provincial government immediately launched emergency measures to prevent and control the disease.
People in close contact with the patient have been isolated for medical observation. The places where the patient had been staying around have been disinfected to prevent the disease from spreading.
The information has been reported to the Ministry of Health.
Statistics show the Ministry of Health have reported 14 human cases of bird flu. Eight of them died and the rest have recovered.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/04/content_4255851.htm

 

[Sally Furniss]

Life Insurance paid out on bird flu victim

Life Insurance paid out on bird flu victim

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- China Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ltd (CPIC Life) has paid 100,000 yuan (12,500 U.S. dollars) to the family of a Chinese bird flu victim, said sources with the company Friday.
This is the first compensation case related to the bird flu epidemic in China.
On February 24, the Hunanese family of a woman surnamed Long reported to CPIC LIfe's Shenzhen branch, where Long's company had insurance for her since January 1 this year, that Long had died ofbird flu during the Chinese Spring Festival holiday.
CPIC Life confirmed here Friday that its Shenzhen branch has finished the 100,000-yuan compensation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/04/content_4255968.htm

 

[Sally Furniss]

China: 9,000 chicks die.

China: 9,000 chicks die.

HONG KONG, March 2 (Reuters) - Some 9,000 chicks got sick and died on a farm in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, but health officials there said they were not killed by bird flu, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Thursday. The weather in the area has been cold and wet, leading authorities in the populous province to the reach an initial conclusion that the young birds fell ill and died of coccidiosis, an intestinal parasite, Wen Wei Po reported. Farmers in the area, however, were sceptical because they said coccidiosis was common and unlikely to kill so many chicks at once, the newspaper reported. Nearly 3,000 surviving chicks on the farm were culled and incinerated, it said. The bird deaths come at a time when H5N1 avian flu is spreading around the world, prompting health experts to warn about a possible pandemic. Guangdong has yet to report any outbreaks of H5N1, but several birds, mostly wild, have been killed by the disease in neighbouring Hong Kong
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG276251.htm

 

[HenryN]

Re: Man dies of suspected bird flu in Guangzhou

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03040601/H5N1_Guangdong_Fatality.html

 

[HenryN]

Guangdong Recombination

Guangdong Recombination

There is also recombination in Guangdong wild bird

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=h5n1%20guangdong&sa=N&tab=wn

 

[Mellie]

Niman's Recombinomics updates on China

Niman's Recombinomics updates on China

Thanks so much Henry for the update. For those who want a quick read, here's the text. Mellie

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03040601/H5N1_Guangdong_Fatality.html
<big><big>Commentary</big></big>

Suspect Fatal Case of H5N1 Bird Flu in Guangdong

Recombinomics Commentary
March 4, 2006

A man has died of suspected H5N1 avian influenza in southern China, just over the border from Hong Kong, a local newspaper said on Saturday.

The 32-year-old man frequently visited wet markets where chickens were often slaughtered, the South China Morning Post said.

He developed fever and pneumonia on February 22 and died on March 2, Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) said in a statement late on Friday.

The above comments suggest H5N1 bird flu is spreading in China. There have been no official reported H5N1 outbreaks in Guangdong, although media reports indicate there have been several outbreaks. Moreover, H5N1 has been confirmed in wild birds in Hong Kong on several occasions recently and an H5N1 recombinant sequence from Guangdong was just deposited at GenBank.

H5N1 in Hong Kong is said to be related to prior H5N1 isolates from Japan and Korea. Although antibodies have been reported in poultry workers from those countries, there have been no human fatalities reported for this strain.

Many of the changes in H5N1 have been linked to recombination, which can have significant effects on the ability to infect humans. The first confirmed fatal infection by the Qinghai strain of H5N1 had the S227N change. Publication of the sequences from Hong Kong would be useful. These sequences have been kept in a private database that is password protected.

Friday a call was made to make the data public. Hong Kong has a large number of such sequences including human isolates from Indonesia, where fatal human cases are being reported on a daily basis.

This sequence data should be released immediately.


http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03030601/H5N1_Recombination_Guangdong_M.html


<big><big>Commentary</big></big>
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica].[/FONT]
Recombination in M Gene of H5N1 Guangdong Wild Bird

Recombinomics Commentary
March 3, 2006

Researchers in Beijing have recently submitted sequences from H5N1 isolates in China under the title "A cohort of AIV H5N1 subtypes isolated from wild aquatic birds and domestic poultry revealed rapid transmission, frequent reassortment, and identifiable recombination events." The sequences from A/wild bird/Guangdong/314/2004(H5N1) showed evidence of both reassortment and recombination. The eight genes were derived from isolates related to tree sparrow sequences from Henan, a duck smuggled onto Quemoy Island in 2003, and a series isolates from of Hong Kong ducks in the late 1970's

PB2 shows evidence of extensive recombination with a variety of parents that have clustered polymorphisms. Recombination is also seen in the M gene. The 2004 wild bird sequence was closely related to a series of Hong Kong waterfowl such as A/duck/Hong Kong/365/1978(H4N6) isolated in the late 1970's. However, there wee also several polymorphisms that were shared with the H5N1 Qinghai isolates. Most of these polymorphisms were clustered in two regions (C306T, C315T, A318G) and (G580A, T604G, G610A, T640C, G645A, G670A). The clusters represent "identifiable recombination events".

These extensive regions of recombination highlight the need for a current and robust database of flu sequences. Many of these sequences were recently deposited at Genbank, although the samples were collected in the 1970's. H5N1 sequences have been deposited in a more timely manner, but there are still significant delays. These delays were highlighted in today's Science which described a private WHO database with recent important sequences such has human sequences from Indonesia and bird sequences from many countries in Europe. In the past, H5N1 sequences have been delayed for 6-12 months, pending publication.

H5N1 is evolving and migrating at a record pace. Recent sequences from Russia, Nigeria, France, and Italy identifies formation of new clades related to the Qinghai strain. In addition there are human and American sequences that are being acquired.

Immediate deposit of the valuable H5N1 sequences and all recent sero-types identified in recent expanded surveillance worldwide would facilitate tracking of H5N1 sequences and development of effective vaccines.

Map

 

[Mellie]

Re: Life Insurance paid out on bird flu victim

Re: Life Insurance paid out on bird flu victim

Before this is all over seems there's likely to be lots of insurance paid out and lots of insurance companies that go belly up. My opinion, of course.

 

[Sally Furniss]

Bird flu approaching human through 3 channels: expert

Bird flu approaching human through 3 channels: expert


BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Famous pandemic control expert Zhong Nanshan said that bird flu is approaching human beings through three possible channels: bird flu itself, live poultry and other animals.

"An urgent task at present is to carry out nationwide publicity as quickly as possible," said Zhong, a member of China's top advisory body, National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Zhong, who is in Beijing to attend the annual session of the CPPCC National Committee, said bird flu is affecting human beings.

A patient in Guangzhou who died of bird flu did not have direct contacts with dead poultry. "It's possible that live poultry may also carry bird flu virus," said Zhong.

It's possible that other animals, including cat and pig, may also be infected with bird flu, he said.

Zhong praised government work in preventing and controlling human infection of highly pathogenic bird flu, but he noted that publicity is not enough, especially in some rural areas.

"Some people there are not alert for bird flu. They don't report serious pneumonia cases to relevant departments when they hear of them," said Zhong.

On the other hand, people should not be over-worried about the spread of bird flu, Zhong said. "The majority of people are not sensitive to the current strain of bird flu."

He said China has done a fairly good job in monitoring wild poultry. In addition, some cities have began monitoring serious cases of pneumonia. The information system is being improved and research and development of vaccines have made progress.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-03/07/content_4268408.htm

 

[eladdie]

Mandatory Hospitalizations in Guangzhau

Mandatory Hospitalizations in Guangzhau

Note: Everyone buys food. Everyone. This guy caught Bird flu from going to the "grocery store", and China requires anyone in a city of population of 6.6 MILLION to go to the hospital for quarantine? A fever of 37.5 = 99.6, an abnormally low threshold. How many have a fever from other illnesses? 1%? So one hospital is going to quarantine 66 thousand people?



What is going on????



Guangzhou alert to bird flu
Zhang Liuhao
2006-03-07
PEOPLE with fevers above 37.5 degrees Celsius are required to be hospitalized in Guangzhou, after the Guangdong Province's capital reported a human death from the bird flu on Sunday, the New Express said today.

One of Guangzhou's major hospitals, the designated hospital to receive bird flu patients, has been rearranging their wards, it said. They are moving ordinary patients together to set aside more rooms for potential human bird flu cases. The report didn't identify the hospital by name.

The hospital is also going to issue its emergency response plan for the quarantine of patients and the disinfection of the hospital, in case of a human avian influenza outbreak.

Another Guangdong newspaper, the Information Times, said the Guangzhou government would vaccinate all the city's live poultry by the end of this month to lower the possibilities of more bird flu outbreaks and human infections.

The Ministry of Health confirmed a 32-year-old man in Guangzhou died of the bird flu last week. He was the ninth person who died of the H5N1 virus in China, and brought the total number of human cases in China to 15.

The victim identified as Lao, made several visits to an agricultural market, where he was in close proximity to a poultry-slaughtering site. Any who was in close contact with Lao have been put under medical observation. Thus far no abnormal symptoms have been reported.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/03/07/246668/Guangzhou_alert_to_bird_flu.htm

 

[ukcz]

Re: Mandatory Hospitalizations in Guangzhau

Re: Mandatory Hospitalizations in Guangzhau

What is going on????

I suspect that only China's government knows. The news management is particularly marked at the moment, but anything they do say about BF within the country recently seems to be quite bad.

Despite warnings from the WHO that we should pay attention to Indonesia, I don't believe that they know what is happening in China.

 

[Dove]

Boxun: WHO officer in China helps to hide bird flu?

Boxun: WHO officer in China helps to hide bird flu?

WHO officer in China helps to hide bird flu?

http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/eng...03081328.shtml

(Mar. 08, 2006)

Boxun published a message sent by anonymous person(full text in Chinese), it says that WHO officer in China received bribery and help China government to hide the seriousness of bird flu in China.

Boxun claims that it cannot confirm the information at the beginning of the publishment, then publishes its full contents as it received.

It mentioned that WHO received dead birds (sample) in 2005, and WHO officer released the person's name to government. It said that two persons were executed in February 27 2006.

The message says bird flu has caused 820 deaths in China since summer 2005.

Note by Boxun editor:
One public clue may help understand the situation: the WHO officer in China supported and agreed the official data release by China government. While the scientist in Hong Kong - Guan Yi denied the official data with many solid evidences. In theory, WHO officer in China should have more direct information than a scientist in Hong Kong.

As the biggest citizen journalism site in Chinese, Boxun is largely supported by volunteers, and we do not have the resources to translate its full contents. The quality of translation is also problematic (sometime). Please understand us. (boxun.com)
(Modified on 2006/3/08)

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世卫官员收取中共巨额贿赂隐瞒禽流感严重疫情？
(博讯2006年3月07日)
(博讯编者按：以下内容博讯无法核实，归类为大众观点）

作者:不平则鸣

进入2005年中旬以来，中国各地发生多起严重的禽流感疫情，这其中既有禽类的大规模感染也有严重的人类感 染事故，根据中国民间人士的统计，截止到2006年2月底，大陆感染禽流感死亡的人数可查的超过820多人 ，隔离人数不详。

中国大陆的信息封闭现状是世界各国有目共睹的，因此，信息的闭塞性可想而知。实际上在2005年辽宁暴发严 重的禽流感疫情后，中国国务院办公厅曾经发布过官方文件，内容就是有关禽流感疫情的公布由中央统一公布，地 方包括省一级政府不得私自发布疫情信息。而且官方对未经中央许可的禽流感疫情采取的措施是:

严禁使用禽流感及相关词语描述疫情，感染禽流感疫情的群众必须到指定医院救治否则取消医疗保险补助，对拒不 按规定的患者可以强制执行。

这里要讲的并不是中共对禽流感的措施而要谈的是世界卫生组织驻北京官员的表现。

"中国的疫情被严重隐瞒实际上很大的原因实际上是这些外国人和中国官员互相勾结的结果。。。"。这是一位与 世卫密切接触并曾经在中共与世卫之间多次联系的中共官员的描述。

根据该官员的描述，在2005年中国青海暴发严重的禽流感疫情后，由于民间人士的大量信息报道导致国际社会 对此严重关注，正是青海禽流感的传播导致了今年的全球性的禽流感大蔓延。而当时的世卫驻华官员一面面对国际 社会的巨大压力，另一面面对的是中共的严厉控制，在当时发生了非常戏剧性的一个事件彻底改变了世卫驻华官员 ，使他们成为中共的帮凶。

大家或许还记得曾经有九个披露青海禽流感信息的年青人，在青海禽流感疫情暴发后，其中布和林和索南旺达曾经 携带密封的死鸟样本通过西宁的朋友转至北京世卫。 并且其中有九人连名的并有当地许多牧民签名的信件请求世卫驻华官员对中共施加压力，遏制禽流感在当地的蔓延 ，保障当地牧民的利益和生命安全。

中共对世卫驻华官员一直是采取严密监视与控制的措施，但是这个被秘密接收的死鸟样本和当地牧民联名的信件成 为一个重要的转折点。一切都改变了。

这些世卫驻华官员没有选择向世界公开这些信息，而是选择了以此为把柄进入青海疫区的要求，中共考虑再三选择 了允许进入疫区并给予巨额封口费的方法，而世卫官员则选择了交出死鸟样本和信件做交换。

于是就有了世卫官员进入青海疫区发表了一通不大不小的报告了事，而当外国媒体了解九个年轻人的信息时。世卫 官员轻描淡写的说:他们也听说过这个故事。

向世卫驻华官员支付巨额封口费已经成为一个惯例，而隐瞒中国的重大疫情保持与中国政府的高度一致成为目前世 卫驻华官员的最重要工作。

该文之所以被披露是由于在2006年2月27日下午，被关押在乌鲁木齐的布和林和索南旺达以颠覆国家政权罪 和严重泄露国家机密罪被处决。而世卫驻华官员提供的死鸟样本和信件就是罪证。

该官员目前依然在职，但是已经匿名宣布退党。

他的最后的一句话是:很多的国际驻华组织实际上已经成为中共的帮凶，或许今天提供给他们的资料明天就在公安 局或国安人员的桌上了。要谨慎选择!!!!!!

_(博讯自由发稿区发稿) (Modified on 2006/3/08) (博讯 boxun.com)
(本文只代表作者或者发稿团体的观点、立场)

 

[Snowy Owl]

Stay away from Wild Birds

Stay away from Wild Birds

Stay away from Wild Birds

Minister of Health Gao Qiang says bird flu is not highly infectious, but has warned people not to touch wild birds.


Speaking on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), Gao said that it was not easy for humans to become infected with the virus from dead birds or poultry.


He said that while vast numbers of people have had contact with dead birds, there had only been around a dozen cases in the country of human bird flu.


Gao said that experts are investigating whether a certain deficiency in certain people makes them more prone to contracting the virus.
He denied that the H5N1 virus found in China was different from that in other parts of the world.


He said the best way to control the outbreak was still containing the epidemic situation in poultry.


He called on people to avoid contact between domestic poultry and wild birds, as the major infection source of the virus was still migratory birds.
"By decreasing the infection of domestic poultry, the number of human cases is naturally brought down," he said.


Gao urged people to keep their distance from wild birds and not to prey, sell, kill or eat them, to minimize the chances of being infected.
"We can cut down on many diseases as long as we get along harmoniously with nature," he said.


The slaughter of live poultry in urban markets should be banned, he said, adding that Beijing has done very well in this respect.
(China Daily March 15, 2006)
http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/161685.htm

 

[Snowy Owl]

Isolation Over for 124 People in Close Contact with Bird Flu Victim

Isolation Over for 124 People in Close Contact with Bird Flu Victim

Isolation Over for 124 People in Close Contact with Bird Flu Victim

The 124 people who had close contact with a young man who died of bird flu in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, earlier this month are no longer in isolation.


The Guangzhou City Health Bureau announced on Wednesday that the 124 were removed from medical observation on Sunday.


The 32-year-old man who died, surnamed Lao, was the first human case of bird flu in Guangzhou. He started to show symptoms of fever and pneumonia on February 22. He died on March 2 despite receiving medical attention. Local medical experts ruled out that his girlfriend, who had been suffering from a fever, had caught the infection and she was discharged from hospital on Saturday.


Guangzhou also ended the daily report on the emergency measures as no new bird flu outbreaks in poultry or any new suspected human cases had been detected according to the local health bureau.


As of March 7, the Chinese mainland had reported 15 confirmed human cases of bird flu. Of those infected 10 died. Globally 175 human cases have been diagnosed resulting in 95 deaths. These figures were reported on the World Health Organization's website of March 6.


(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2006)
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Mar/162050.htm