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Anhui Province reports new outbreak of bird flu
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-14 21:59
The team will meet with provincial officials and possibly visit the two
patients — or their families — who became ill in Wantang village, where the
government says 545 chickens and ducks died of bird flu last month.
"They'll see where things are at this moment," Wadia said.
The 12-year-old girl died Oct. 17 after developing a high fever. Her
9-year-old brother, who showed the same symptoms, was discharged from a hospital
over the weekend although doctors were still doing blood tests. A 36-year-old
schoolteacher was said to be recovering.
Bird flu has killed at least 64 people in Asia since 2003, two-thirds of them
in Vietnam. Most are known to have come in contact with infected birds.
Health experts warn that the virus could mutate into a form that can easily
be passed between people, possibly sparking a flu pandemic that could kill
millions.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases,
said China had developed a drug equivalent to Tamiflu, an antiviral believed to
be the best available treatment for bird flu in humans.
"It has some effect in treatment against the virus," Zhong, who was at the
forefront of SARS research, said in an interview published Sunday in the
Information Times newspaper. "There will be a new development in the near
future."
The report did not give any details on the Chinese drug or when it will be
available.
The Swiss maker of Tamiflu, Roche, said it halted sales in China on Nov. 1
and was turning over supplies to the government as officials were ordered to
prepare to treat possible human cases of bird flu.
China has more than 14 billion farm poultry, accounting for almost 21 percent
of the world's total.
Outbreaks have been reported throughout the country — Inner Mongolia and
Liaoning in the north, Anhui in the east and Hunan and Hubei in central China.
Dead birds were also reported earlier this year in the western areas of Xinjiang
and Qinghai.
Local governments have been tightening surveillance and response
measures, Xinhua News Agency said.
Provincial officials have held meetings on prevention and control and have
launched "all-around mobilization," Xinhua said.
"Many provinces have established quick-response mechanisms on major
animal-related epidemics, and set up the 24-hour on-watch systems," the ministry
said.
Some have raised money to buy disinfection products, equipment and protective
suits, Xinhua said.
Shanxi province in the north has given free injections for poultry raised by
farmers, while Zhejiang province in the east has appointed one person to report
epidemics in each village.
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