China Posing for Bird Flu Epidemic

Seattle – China reports the H5NI strain of Bird Flu has claimed another victim. On Saturday, January 17, a young woman died from Bird Flu.

According to the China State media, the Xinhua News Agency, identified only as surname Zhang a 27 year old female , fell ill from the symptoms of Bird Flu on January 5th. The young female was the second victim this month to die from Bird Flu.

As reported by the Science News, the first young female who died was from the Beijing in the Hebei Province. She died after handling ducks purchased from a local market.

On Sunday, the national disease and prevention control center announced the young lady was infected with the H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza.

The announcement came shortly after a toddler was reported as falling ill to this same strain of Avian Influenza. As reported by china state media primetime news, the toddler is in critical condition. The 2 year old is from the Hunan Province which neighbors the Hebei Province.

As a precautionary measure, the national disease and prevention control center is working to identify all individuals who have and may have come in contact with Zhang. This effort is being conducted in an effort to control the spread of the strain.

Since 2005, there have been 30 confirmed cases of the H5NI strain of Avian Influenza. Twenty of those cases have been fatal. Since 2003, the strain has killed a total documented 248 individuals.

According the World Health Organization, (WHO) of all known cases, no one has been infected by human to human contact. Transmission of this disease seems to be based on handling infected birds especially those in the poultry and foul species.

China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) is urging all local veterinary departments in the neighboring provinces to step up their inspection of local poultry markets and disinfect all markets thoroughly. The MOA is positioning themselves for a grim situation. They are aware of the potential of a bird flu outbreak. In light of the situation, the MOA is recommending a nationwide check and intensified effort to prevent an outbreak. They especially are recommending a intensified effort on those areas known to demonstrate a high risk for an outbreak. Based on the number of fowl and people, the prognosis seems bleak.

A leading scientist recommends that extra hospital beds are set up and established ready to be used in the event more cases are diagnosed.

Hong Kong University‘s lead Scientist/Microbiologist Ho Pak-Leung stated the increased holiday traffic combined with the areas culture of slaughtering ducks, chicken and geese for traditional holiday meals has the potential to increase the risk of human bird flu contamination.

Sources:

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=433041

http://news.google.com/?ned=us&ncl=1294270545&hl=en&topic=m

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=77191&sid=22303891&con_type=3