3Rd Person Dies From New Bird Flu Virus In Eastern China

[News_Editor]

HANGZHOU, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A third person in eastern China has died of a new strain of avian influenza that had never before been transmitted to humans, health authorities said on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed cases reached nine despite there being no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

The Zhejiang Provincial Health Department said laboratory tests have confirmed that a 38-year-old cook who died last month was suffering from avian influenza, which is better known as bird flu. The tests showed he had contracted H7N9, which is a relatively new strain that was only known to infect birds.

Authorities said the man, who worked in neighboring Jiangsu Province, became ill on March 7, was hospitalized on March 18, and died on March 27. A second person, a 67-year-old retired man from Zhejiang province, has also tested positive for H7N9 after becoming ill on March 25 with fever, cough and other symptoms. He was later hospitalized but his condition was not immediately known.

Health authorities have so far been in touch with 183 close contacts of the two patients, but none of them have reported having a fever or respiratory symptoms. It is unclear how either was infected as they did not know each other, although it was not immediately clear whether the men had been in direct contact with poultry or wild birds.

The two H7N9 cases come just three days after China's National Health and Family Planning Commission said that two men from Shanghai and a woman from Anhui province were also diagnosed with the virus. The two men eventually died but the woman remains in a critical condition after being hospitalized in neighboring Jiangsu province.

Four more cases were reported on Tuesday by the Jiangsu Provincial Health Department, which said one man and three women had tested positive for H7N9 avian influenza. The four patients remained in critical conditions on Wednesday at various hospitals in China's eastern region.

It remains unclear how the nine patients became infected with the new virus, but Chinese and international health authorities have stressed they have seen no evidence of human-to-human transmission. Some experts have suggested that the virus may have mutated, allowing it to infect poultry without generating symptoms while sickening humans.

However, the World Health Organization (WHO) said experts are investigating two people who became ill after being in contact with one of the reported cases in Shanghai. "Both of these contacts developed symptoms of illness; one died and the other recovered," a spokesperson said. "No laboratory confirmation is available for these two contacts."

Also on Wednesday, China's Ministry of Agriculture said it has found no signs of H7N9 bird flu infections in poultry or other animals. The ministry explained further investigation is necessary to determine how the virus is infecting humans, and it said the strain had previously only been found in wild birds. There have been no known cases of poultry being infected with the virus.

The Chinese government has said it is closely monitoring the situation and cities in eastern provinces have stepped up public health measures for early detection, diagnosis and treatment. Communication efforts between human and animal health and industry sectors have also been increased, while citizens have been urged to maintain good personal hygiene and avoid direct contact with sick or dead animals.

"WHO is in contact with national authorities and is following the event closely," a WHO spokesperson said on Wednesday. The spokesperson said no vaccine is currently available for this sub-type of avian influenza, but said preliminary test results provided by the WHO Collaborating Center in China suggest that the virus is susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir).

In Hong Kong, a spokesman for the Center for Health Protection (CHP) said it would closely monitor the situation and urged members of the public to remain vigilant for possible cases of bird flu. "We will heighten our vigilance and continue to maintain stringent port health measures in connection with this development," he said on Sunday.

Following the new cases this week, the CHP spokesman advised travelers from Shanghai, Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu with respiratory symptoms to wear facial masks, seek medical attention and reveal their travel histories to doctors. He also said healthcare professionals should pay special attention to those travelers who may have been in contact with birds or poultry in eastern China.

While there is no known vaccine for H7N9, the strain is different from the well-known H5N1 variant. Since 2003, the H5N1 bird flu virus has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry worldwide and caused an estimated $20 billion in economic damage before it was eliminated from most of the 63 infected countries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the bird flu virus has infected at least 605 people since it first appeared, killing 357 of them. Most cases and deaths were recorded in Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and China. Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Cambodia all reported bird flu deaths last year.
(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)

[Scott]

A link to a commercial site which requires a poster to sign up has been deleted as well as a reply.

[Publicus]

Deadly New Bird Flu Virus in China Possibly Linked to Dead Pigs

A new and deadly strain of bird flu is threatening two eastern Chinese provinces, with health authorities and virologists suspecting that a virus mutation is the link between the dead pigs that floated past Shanghai, dead migratory birds in north China, and the deaths of three people.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/9548-deadly-new-bird-flu-virus-in-china-possibly-linked-to-dead-pigs/

[Chicog]

BEIJING (AP) — A 7-year-old girl has become the first confirmed case in Beijing of the latest strain of bird flu virus, which has killed 11 and sickened 32 in eastern China, officials said Saturday.

The Beijing Health Bureau said the girl, whose parents are in the live poultry trade, was admitted to hospital Thursday with symptoms of fever, sore throat, coughing and headache. It said she was confirmed to be infected with the H7N9 virus on Saturday after tests by disease control and prevention centers.

The case in China's capital is the first one reported outside eastern China, where the virus was first spotted in late March, prompting massive slaughtering of live fowl and bans on poultry trade in several cities, including the financial hub Shanghai. Shanghai, the center of the outbreak, has reported 20 cases, including seven fatalities.

China has been more open in its response to the new virus than it was a decade ago with an outbreak of SARS, when authorities were highly criticized for not releasing information.

The Beijing Health Bureau said in a statement that the girl is in stable condition in a hospital and that two people who had been in close contact with her showed no flu symptoms.

Health officials believe people are contracting the H7N9 virus through direct contact with infected fowl and say there is no evidence the virus is spreading easily among people.

Interestingly there was a Chinese lady on my flight from Bangkok to Doha last night who kept her "Contagion" face mask on for boarding, the entire flight and transit. She was getting on a plane to South Africa so I'm guessing it was a bit full of drool by the time she got there.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Chicog

[Publicus]

Yes, here's a full story about the new case doing the unprecedented thing again, i.e., showing up in Beijing, which is a considerable distance from the original outbreak. So now the new strain of bird flu is in the capital of the CCP's PRChina.

Meanwhile, as Chinese netizens take to the internet to try to inform the country of these new developments, which are being denied or downplayed in the CCP's state TV and newspapers, the Public Security Bureau - Beijing's Gestapo - are rounding up netizens, accusing them of spreading false alarms.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/14791-bird-flu-officially-arrives-in-beijing-days-behind-rumors/

[jamhar]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-22141290

Update

13 deaths

60 reported cases

Still no human to human transmission confirmed

Tamaflu and Relenza both reportedly effective

The rate of deaths is lower and slower to climb that the rate of new cases,

This supports the claims that Tamaflu and Relenza are effective against this strain.

TL needs to stay on top of this and have stockpiles of CURRENT Tamiflu and Relenza at the ready. If this starts jumping from human to human, its going to get ugly quickly And with the influx of Chinese business and tourists, i'd be shocked if it didnt hit TL soon after human to human transmission is confirmed.

Edited April 15, 2013 by jamhar

[Chicog]

Time for another viewing of "Outbreak" methinks.

[F430murci]

This seems to be a pretty good article on this:

http://behindthewall.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/13/17720122-it-started-with-a-cough-deadly-china-bird-flu-outbreak-raises-fears-of-pandemic?lite

[Publicus]

This column in Forbes magazine indicates PRChinese investors are not alarmed by the new strains of bird flu, but that some high ranking PRChinese military see yet another U.S. conspiracy:

Chinese Stocks Shrug Off Bird Flu As PLA Officer Blames U.S. Military

http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2013/04/08/chinese-stocks-shrug-off-bird-flu-as-pla-officer-blames-u-s-military/

[F430murci]

83 reported cases and 17 deaths.