China warns of bird flu risk after second fatality

Posted: 19 January 2009 1216 hrs

	A Chinese poultry seller selects a chicken for a customer at a market in Hefei, eastern China's Anhui province.
	Related News • China reports second bird flu death this month • Two-year-old girl contracts bird flu in China • China urges increased vigilance against bird flu during holiday

BEIJING: China warned Monday of a rising bird flu risk after a second person died of the virus in less than a month, and said it could be especially dangerous as the nation headed into the Lunar New Year holiday.

A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang died in the east Chinese province of Shandong on Saturday, nearly two weeks after falling ill, the provincial health bureau said.

It was the second confirmed fatality this month from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, bringing the total number of reported deaths in China since 2003 to 22.

"With the approach of the Lunar New Year, the trade in poultry products is increasing, and there is a growing risk of the emergence and spread of epidemics," the agriculture ministry warned in a statement.

The ministry called for a number of measures to counter the re-emerging threat, including stepped-up surveillance and increased production of poultry vaccines.

The week-long Lunar holiday that begins on Monday sees many of the nation's 1.3 billion people travelling for family reunions that are characterised by big meals featuring poultry and other meats.

Low winter temperatures that are conducive to the spread of the virus are exacerbating the problem.

Heightening tensions, authorities announced on the weekend a two-year-old girl had also been diagnosed with bird flu in the province of Shanxi, bordering Shandong.

The Shanxi provincial health bureau said on Sunday that she was in a critical condition.

It said that 67 people who had been in close contact with the toddler were under observation, but none had shown signs so far of having contracted the disease.

The girl had fallen ill in Hunan, province hundreds of kilometres away, but had been brought to Shanxi by her grandparents, Chinese press reports said.

Following the case, the agriculture ministry sent teams to Shanxi and Hunan to look for traces of bird flu, but came up with nothing, the China News Service reported. A search in Shandong also yielded no results.

This highlighted the underlying threat of bird flu, as it indicated that the virus was lurking undetected in poultry and waiting to be passed on to humans.

This month's previous fatality, a 19-year-old woman in Beijing, had been handling ducks she had bought in a market, also without prior warning in the form of an outbreak among fowl.

China has reported the latest cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as health authorities in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to the China News Service.

The WHO had little immediate comment on Monday about the new developments.

"The ministry of health has informed the WHO of the two cases over the weekend, and we're prepared to offer technical support if they ask," said Nyka Alexander, a Beijing-based WHO spokeswoman.

According to the WHO, about 250 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003.

Scientists fear the virus could mutate to jump easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.