China reports suspected bird flu death as Cambodia checks seven people for virus
- From: "Chim" <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 24 Mar 2006 04:43:58 -0800
Updated:2006-03-24 06:07:19
China reports suspected bird flu death as Cambodia checks seven people
for virus
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
ap
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - A 29-year-old woman died of suspected bird flu
in Shanghai, officials and state media said Friday, as seven ailing
people in Cambodia were being checked for the virulent H5N1 virus
strain after a 3-year-old girl died from the disease.
In Malaysia, authorities were trapping migratory birds to test them for
the virus after it was detected in chickens.
Tests on the woman who died in Shanghai, a migrant worker, indicated
she probably succumbed to pneumonia caused by bird flu, newspapers and
the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
They said the Health Ministry was investigating to confirm the
diagnosis.
Public affairs officials for Shanghai government agencies refused to
give the woman's name or other details.
She was admitted to the No. 9 People's Hospital on March 15 with a
fever and cough, said a woman who answered the phone at its
administrative office. She said the woman died Tuesday.
"Experts are here to check it out," said the woman, who refused to give
her name to reporters, saying it was against policy.
If confirmed, the woman's death would be the first bird flu case among
humans in Shanghai, China's biggest city, with a population of 20
million people including about 3 million migrant workers.
China has reported 15 confirmed bird flu cases and 10 deaths on its
mainland.
Worldwide, the virus has killed 103 people in eight countries, mostly
in Asia, according to the World Health Organization.
Most human infections have been linked to direct contact with infected
birds, though medical experts fear the virus may mutate into a form
that could be passed between people.
Cambodia's Health Ministry on Friday confirmed that the dead girl had
contracted H5N1, most likely from having contact with sick and dead
chickens. The girl is Cambodia's fifth bird flu fatality since 2003,
and its first this year. Three children and four adults from the girl's
southern village of Tuol Prik were being tested because they had fevers
and cold symptoms after having contact with sick fowl or the girl, the
WHO said.
In northern Malaysia's Penang state, authorities were capturing and
dissecting migratory birds to test them for H5N1 after at least six
chickens there tested positive for the virus.
Both Malaysia and Cambodia have seen widespread outbreaks, prompting
their governments to destroy tens of thousands of birds to try to
contain the virus.
Worldwide, bird flu has killed or prompted authorities to destroy 200
million birds, according to the United Nations.
In China, the government and news reports gave no indication of how the
woman in Shanghai might have caught the disease and didn't say when she
came to the city or from where.
No outbreaks in poultry have been reported in Shanghai since 2004, said
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, a WHO spokeswoman in Beijing. Bhatiasevi said the
WHO requested information about the suspected human case from the
Health Ministry and was awaiting a response.
China has the world's largest poultry flocks, with a total of about 5.2
billion chickens, ducks and other birds on farms at any one time.
The Agriculture Ministry agreed this week to give the WHO samples from
infected poultry for the first time since 2004 following criticism that
Beijing was hampering research on possible vaccines by withholding the
materials.
Also Friday, the government announced it would spend 1.7 billion yuan
(US$212 million;176 million) on vaccines against bird flu and
foot-and-mouth disease.
Farmers can receive the vaccines free "providing that they will use the
vaccine properly," the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing an
Agriculture Ministry statement.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the
AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated
Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
03/24/06 06:05 EST
.
- Prev by Date: Cambodia probes, closes Australian-run medical clinic
- Next by Date: Club supports Cambodian villages
- Previous by thread: Cambodia probes, closes Australian-run medical clinic
- Next by thread: Club supports Cambodian villages
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
