China sought Wednesday [21 Jan 2009] to allay fears over the threat
of a bird flu pandemic after 3 people died from the disease this
month [January 2009] and a 4th person remained critically ill. There
was no evidence that the potential for an outbreak of the disease was
on the rise, China's health ministry said in a statement faxed to
AFP. "The 4 cases separately came from different provinces; there is
no epidemiological connection between them; they are sporadic cases,"
the ministry said.
A 16-year-old boy died on Tuesday [20 Jan 2009] from the H5N1 strain
of avian influenza in the central province of Hunan [See above,
infection contracted in Guizhou province.].
A 27-year-old woman also succumbed to the disease on Saturday [17 Jan
2009] in the eastern province of Shandong, while the 1st fatality
occurred on 5 Jan 2009 when a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing.
A 2-year-old girl, meanwhile, is still critically ill in the northern
province of Shanxi, the health ministry said. The toddler's mother
died this month [January 2009] of severe pneumonia, sparking concern
that she may actually have had bird flu and passed it on to her
daughter. The health ministry said it was unable to do tests to
confirm whether the mother had died of avian influenza, as no samples
were collected when she passed away. But it added it was unlikely the
girl caught bird flu from her mother. "We cannot be sure that the
patient's mother had bird flu, and investigations show the patient
had been exposed to live poultry markets," the statement said.
"Therefore, we believe the patient's infection most likely came from
a live poultry market or another unknown exposure."
China is considered one of the nations most at risk from bird flu
epidemics because it has the world's largest poultry population, and
many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans.
The World Health Organisation says about 250 people have died from
bird flu worldwide since 2003. The total number of reported deaths in
China since the virus re-emerged in 2003 now stands at 23.
Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP) report [edited]
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