Published Date: 2004-01-18 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza - Eastern Asia (03): RFI
Archive Number: 20040118.0206
AVIAN INFLUENZA - EASTERN ASIA (03): REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Daily Telegraph, 18 Jan 2004 [edited]
<http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2004%2F01%2F18%2Fwflu18.xml&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=15764>
China's secret bird flu "puts world at risk"
--------------------------------------------
China is refusing to disclose the origins of a "bird flu" virus lethal to
humans which could make SARS look like "a puff of smoke," say angry
scientists and World Health Organization officials. They fear that the
country's Guangdong province, from where the SARS virus began to spread
last winter, could be the source of the flu, which has killed at least 13
people, most of them children, in Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan in recent
weeks.
The Chinese authorities deny that the country harbours the virus, even
though it has been discovered in poultry meat exported to its neighbours.
An outbreak of bird flu in Taiwan earlier in January 2004 was traced to
duck meat smuggled from China [On 13 Jan 2004, Taiwan's authorities said
that the smuggled duck, in which an A/H5N1 virus was isolated and
characterized by the National Institute for Animal Health, did not come in
contact with local avians. They stated that Taiwan is free from highly
pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI); see 20040114.0148. - Mod.AS]. The virus
-- known officially as H5N1 -- spreads swiftly among bird populations and
has been transmitted to humans.
WHO is reluctant to criticise Beijing publicly, but one regional official
said: "We are very unhappy at the fact that China is refusing to play ball
on this. We need to get in there and we need to know what is going on, but
despite repeated requests China has failed to be forthcoming. "We are very
afraid that their attitude to avian flu is the same as it was to SARS last
winter -- and that we are heading for a repetition of that fiasco." China
came under heavy criticism for refusing to acknowledge the existence of the
SARS outbreak, thereby allowing it to spread unchecked for several months.
Southern China, where ducks, geese, chickens, and pigs are raised alongside
each other in high-density farms, is a reservoir of mutating viruses. In
the past, H5N1 killed only chickens but wild birds, ducks, and geese are
all dying in the fresh outbreak. [So far, there is no reference to
mortality in wild avians in other news items or in the official
notifications from South Korea, Vietnam, or Japan to the OIE. However,
Vietnam mentioned, within its control measures, "control of wildlife
reservoirs". -Mod.AS]
Professor Robert Webster, a WHO adviser and leading virologist, said of the
outbreaks: "There is a vital need for information from mainland China. The
only thing one can do is put 2 and 2 together -- where the hell are all
these viruses coming from? What is going on in Vietnam is of very great
concern. If H5N1 gets out of control it will make SARS look quite trivial
-- like a puff of smoke."
Prof Webster likened the possible consequences to the effects of the lethal
"Spanish flu" virus in 1918. The virus, which microbiologists believe also
originated in Guangdong province, killed at least 20 million people worldwide.
[byline: Adam Luck]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Subscribers are referred to the commentary in posting 20040112.0125. More
information from China and other countries in Eastern Asia is indeed
needed. We would also appreciate details on the contacts of the human cases
in Vietnam: did the infected people have contact with poultry or pigs? -
Mod.AS]
See Also
Avian influenza, human - Vietnam (06) 20040118.0193Avian influenza, human - Viet Nam (05) 20040117.0181
Avian influenza, human - Vietnam (04) 20040114.0155
Avian influenza, human - Vietnam (03) 20040114.0154
Avian influenza - Japan (03): OIE 20040114.0151
Avian influenza - Taiwan: not 20040114.0148
Avian influenza - Eastern Asia 20040114.0145
Avian influenza, human - Vietnam (02) 20040113.0138
Avian influenza, human - Vietnam: RFI 20040112.0127
Avian influenza - Japan (02) 20040112.0125
Avian influenza - Japan: RFI 20040111.0124
Avian influenza - Vietnam (02) 20040110.0106
Avian influenza - Vietnam: OIE 20040109.0101
Avian influenza - Thailand (02): not 20040109.0097
Avian influenza - Thailand: RFI 20040105.0051
Avian influenza - Taiwan ex mainland China: susp. 20040101.0001
..............arn/pg/sh
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