Health

Second Bird Flu Death in China This year

by Terri Potratz | January 19, 2009 at 04:31 pm

119 views | 10 Recommendations | 2 comments

A woman has died in China from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the second death this year. Zhang lived in Jinan, Shandong Province and was 27 years old; it is unknown how long she had the virus for or where she acquired it.

A 19 year old woman died just two weeks ago from bird flu in Bejing. She contracted the virus after buying and cleaning ducks in a market. A two year old girl is also currently sick with the virus, in addition to a 16 year old boy in Hunan. Both are in critical condition.

The cases come at a worrisome time for Chinese authorities as tens of millions of people are on the move between cities and rural hometowns for Lunar New Year.

Dishes prepared from freshly slaughtered chicken and duck feature prominently in celebration feasts, posing a potentially greater risk of exposure to sick birds, the WHO’s Beijing office said.

The WHO said it was prepared to provide assistance to China if asked and urged people to take precautions against bird flu infections by washing their hands after handling raw meat and ensuring that all poultry is well cooked.

Health officials also worry that the risk of a serious outbreak will increase as the weather becomes colder in China, as H5N1 is more active in lower temperatures and many families will bring live poultry inside their homes to protect the animals from the elements.

Human-human transmission of bird flu is rare, but there are about a dozen cases of this happening among blood relatives.

The WHO notes that 248 people have died from bird flu since 2003.

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Paschen

at 00:08 on January 20th, 2009

One more mutation and we have a pandemic on our hands. The U.N. and the W.H.O. have been doing a great job so far to control it and contain it or we may very well have been through hell already.

KhmerEyes

at 04:14 on January 20th, 2009

Bird flu is the very hot issue in the world, especially, in Asia. Many NGOs had been adding this topic for educating people about bird flu preventing. Great job!