Posted on 12/29/2005 9:50:47 AM PST by presidio9
China has announced the country's seventh human case of bird flu and third fatality from the H5N1 virus, state media said.
The victim was a 41-year-old factory worker surnamed Zhou in Sanming city in the eastern province of Fujian, Xinhua news agency said Thursday, quoting the ministry of health. She was hospitalised on December 8 after showing symptoms of fever and pneumonia and died on December 21.
Samples taken from her at first tested negative but further tests showed positive results for the H5N1 virus, Xinhua said, quoting a ministry report.
With the latest case, China has reported seven human infections of bird flu, including three fatalities, and 31 outbreaks among poultry this year.
China's previous most recent confirmed human case of bird flu was in the neighbouring province of Jiangxi on December 16, identified as a 35-year-old man surnamed Guo.
Guo, who fell ill on December 4 with fever and symptoms of pneumonia, was being treated at a local hospital, Xinhua reported at the time, citing the health ministry.
While Guo was the first human bird flu case in Jiangxi reported by China, he lived near the border with Hunan province, where at least one human case of bird flu has been detected in recent weeks.
Two other cases, both women who later died, have been confirmed in east China's Anhui province, which also borders Jiangxi.
One further human case has been confirmed in Liaoning province in the northeast and one in Guangxi region in the south.
Despite the toll, China is seen as having escaped relatively lightly from the bird flu virus, which has killed more than 70 people throughout Asia since 2003.
Even so, China is seen as a potential flashpoint for a feared global pandemic because it has the world's biggest poultry population combined with often primitive farming conditions where humans and animals live in close proximity.
The World Health Organization on Sunday called on China to change its farming practices as a long-term way to prevent outbreaks of deadly bird flu.
Shigeru Omi, director for the Western Pacific region, told Xinhua that the common practice in China of raising different kinds of animals together and living in close proximity to animals must change.
"We cannot kill all the chickens and ducks to prevent bird flu from spreading among them and to humans, therefore we have to make sure the chickens, ducks and humans do not mingle together," Omi was quoted as saying.
Segregation is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of the virus, Omi, who was visiting China, told Xinhua in an interview.
China produces 14.2 billion poultry annually and most are raised in farmers' yards or even inside their houses.
Scientists fear the close proximity between poultry and other farm animals as well as humans can provide more opportunity for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus to mutate into a more lethal strain.
The virus is currently spread among animals and from animals to humans. If it becomes easily spread between humans, it could create a pandemic that would likely kill millions of people, experts say.
Ive noticed that the hype surrounding it has pretty much died a slow painfull death.
That's just what they want you to believe, so they can take over when Bird Flu depopulates the planet.
I remember a Three Stooges episode where Curly thought he was a chicken. Larry said that they didn't put him in a mental hospital because they needed the eggs.
However if it mutates to a form easily transferable among humans...
I see where you're going with this! Also, if AIDs mutates to a form easily transferable among humans...
M O O N That spells moon.
Why did the superflu cross the road....?
bump
why
>>>However if it mutates to a form easily transferable among humans...>>>
Yeah, and if a frog had wings...
In a population of BILLIONS, 7 cases. Not the pandemic they have been biting their nails over.
Segregation is one of the most important ways to prevent the spread of the virus
Segregation!!!?
Can't they just BUS the virus in?
Only because the 7 cases seem to have been rural residents. All it takes is one case to go to Beijing or Shanghai and mingle among the millions of people in those cities.
Those who scoff at the dangers should realize the 1918 Flu is believed to have been a form of bird flu, and it spread long before aviation travel was available to the general public.
Who? The chickens?
Mike
>>>Those who scoff at the dangers should realize the 1918 Flu is believed to have been a form of bird flu, and it spread long before aviation travel was available to the general public.>>>
I don't 'scoff' at the danger. I scoff at the sensationalism of the media. This is not the first case of 'bird flu' since 1918. But this is the first case that has sent people (the MSM) into near hysterics.
http://www.geocities.com/pajahoo2012/TheTrashman-SurfinBird.mp3
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