Bird flu keeps on going round and round and back to China

Mar 7 2006

A team of experts from Hong Kong and Macao have reportedly met with officials from Guangzhou with regard to the latest human bird flu fatality which occurred there last week.

It is hoped the meeting will help authorities in the two special administrative regions, gain a better understanding of the disease.

Following the Chinese Ministry of Health confirmation that a man in South China's Guangdong Province died of bird flu, the regions first-ever fatal case of avian flu, the plummeting demand in live chickens has meant poultry markets have suffered huge losses in sales.

According to the provincial health department, the 32 year old man was unemployed and frequented markets where poultry was slaughtered before sale. They believe this was the source of his infection. He became ill and died last Thursday and blood samples confirmed bird flu as the cause of death.

Guangdong health authorities immediately placed those in close contact with the man before he died under medical observation. To date no one appears to be sick.

Luo Huiming, a senior doctor at Guangdong Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has reportedly said the one case does not signify an outbreak, and bird flu commonly occurs between the December to March period.

Guangzhou Municipal Health Bureau has activated its emergency medical response scheme following the death, but as the virus has not spread among human beings it is not regarded as the most seriously graded incident.

Investigations are apparently being carried out to trace the source of the disease.

To date China has reported 15 human cases of bird flu, nine of which have been fatal, according to the WHO.

Concern in Hong Kong about the spread of bird flu means local chicken farms will be forced to to reduce the number of birds they raise by the end of May.

Hong Kong has imposed a three week import ban on live poultry from Guangdong.

The Agricultural and Fisheries Department says presently the city has 139 chicken farms with 2.8 million birds, and it aims to reduce that to 2 million.

The government has also banned backyard poultry raising.

According to the World Health Organization, avian influenza has killed at least 94 people since late 2003, and more than 200 million birds worldwide have been culled or died as the virus sweeps across Asia, Africa and Europe.

Hong Kong is the first place where the H5N1 avian influenza virus is known to have jumped to people from birds, in 1997.

Hong Kong's public hospitals have apparently implemented a three-week enhanced surveillance program, requiring full travel histories of people developing pneumonia and providing rapid avian flu tests.

China has stopped the supply of live poultry, day-old chicks and pet birds to Hong Kong, which is aimed at helping chicken farms reduce their stocks.

Hong Kong's own farms vaccinate all poultry and are required to separate their birds from wild birds.

The Hong Kong government has bought back the licenses of 34 chicken farms and has set aside HK$269 million ($35 million) to pay any of the 139 remaining farms that decide to surrender their licenses.