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Published Date: 2009-01-19 18:00:43
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (10): China (GZ, SD)
Archive Number: 20090119.0230

AVIAN INFLUENZA (10): CHINA (GUIZHOU, SHANDONG)
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[1] & [2] Guizhou province
[3] & [4] Shandong province

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[1] Guizhou province
Date: Mon 19 2009
Source: Xinhua News Agency [Chinese, trans. Rapp.DS, edited]
<http://hn.rednet.cn/c/2009/01/19/1693505.htm>

On the afternoon of 16 Jan 2009, Huaihua City No. 1 People's Hospital
admitted a transfer patient from Guizhou Province. The preliminary
diagnosis was pneumonia of unknown origin, suspected avian influenza.
The patient is 16 years old, a male student. He is a resident of
Qiandongnanzhou in Guizhou Province. The patient fell ill on 8 Jan
2009 in Guizhou. Because his condition deteriorated, he was
transferred to Huaihua in Hunan Province for treatment on 16 Jan 2009.

After receiving a report, the provincial health bureau and provincial
CDC [Centre for Disease Control and Prevention] quickly sent experts
to Huaihua to provide guidance on treatment and prevention work.
Provincial CDC tests were positive for H5N1 avian influenza RNA. On
19 Jan 2009, China CDC ran confirmatory tests which were positive for
H5N1 avian influenza RNA. Epidemiological investigations found that
the patient had contact with diseased poultry carcasses prior to falling ill.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Dan Silver

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[2] Guizhou province
Date: Mon 19 Jan 2009
Source: China View, Xinhua News Agency [edited]
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/19/content_10685859.htm>

A 16-year-old male student had been confirmed as infected with bird
flu [and is being treated] in central China's Hunan Province, the 4th
case of human bird flu found in China in 2009, said a provincial
government official on Monday [19 Jan 2008]. The student fell ill on
8 Jan 2009 in the provincial capital of Guizhou province, said the
official from the provincial health bureau. The student was
transferred to a hospital in Huaihua City on 16 Jan 2009 when his
condition worsened. The patient is still in a critical condition, the
official said.

According to the test result on Monday [19 Jan 2009] from the Chinese
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the student tested
positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus. The patient
had had contact with poultry, the official said. But no more details
had been revealed. The people who had close contact with the patient
are under medical observation. No one has been found ill so far.

In the northern Shanxi Province, a 2-year-old girl was confirmed to
be infected with the same virus on Saturday [17 Jan 2009]. The
toddler had been in critical condition, and doctors had been trying
to bring the virus under control, local health officials said on
Sunday [18 Jan 2009]. The 67 people who had close contact with the
girl had been under observation, but no one was found infected.

A 27-year-old woman died of bird flu in east China's Shandong
Province on Saturday [17 Jan 2009], which was the 2nd death caused by
avian influenza in the country in the new year. The 1st death this
year [2009] from bird flu was a 19-year-old woman who died in Beijing
on 5 Jan 2007.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

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[3] Shandong province
Date: Mon 19 Jan 2009
Source: Chinanews.com [Chinese, trans. by submitter, edited]
<http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2009/01-18/1532609.shtml>

A 27-year-old female who lives in Jinan City, Shandong Province
became ill on 5 Jan 2009 and was later admitted to hospital because
of her worsening condition. Despite treatment, she died on 17 Jan 2009.

On 17 Jan 2009, Shandong Centers for Disease Control took a
respiratory specimen from the patient for testing and found evidence
of H5N1 [avian influenza virus infection] by PCR. Re-testing by the
China CDC [Centre for Disease Control and Prevention] also found H5N1
[avian influenza virus] by PCR.

--
Communicated by:
Angela Huang <huang.songen@gmail.com>

******
[4] Shandong province
Date: Sun 18 Jan 2009
Source: Shanghai Daily [edited]
<http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200901/20090119/article_388549.htm>

A 27-year old woman died of bird flu in east China's Shandong
Province, the country's 2nd death from the H5N1 virus this month
[January 2009], health authorities said yesterday [17 Jan 2009]. In
addition to those cases, earlier in the day, a 2-year-old [treated
in] Shanxi Province [but infected in Hunan province] who was exposed
to the virus was reported to be in critical condition.

The Shandong woman lived in Jinan, the provincial capital. She fell
ill on 5 Jan 2009 and died on Saturday [17 Jan 2009] evening. The
national disease prevention and control center confirmed yesterday
[17 Jan 2009] that she was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian
influenza [virus]. People who had been in close contact with the
woman were placed under observation, but none have exhibited symptoms
of the disease. The case was reported to the World Health
Organization. [Another newswire added: "China has reported the case
to the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as health authorities
in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to the China News Service"
<http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/01/18/09/china-reports-second-bird-flu-death-month>.
- Mod.MPP]

In Shanxi Province, a 2-year-old child was confirmed to be infected
[in Hunan province] with the same virus on Sat 17 Jan 2009. Checks of
the 67 people who had been in close contact with her turned up no
signs of infection. The girl became ill on 7 Jan 2009 in central
China's Hunan Province and was taken to a hospital in her home
province on 11 Jan 2009, an official with the provincial health
department said. The Ministry of Health said in a statement on its
website that the girl was transferred to another hospital after her
symptoms grew worse. The ministry did not say how the girl had become
infected. There have not been any reports of outbreaks of the virus
among birds in Hunan since May 2007. "Currently, the girl's condition
is critical. Shanxi health departments are fighting to save her with
the guidance of a team of health experts," the Ministry of Health
said. It added that the WTO and health authorities in Hong Kong and
Macau had been notified. "We are staying in close contact with the
health ministry," a spokeswoman from the WHO's China office said.

The earlier fatality involved a 19-year-old woman who died in Beijing
on 5 Jan 2009 after buying ducks at a market in Hebei Province, which
surrounds the Chinese capital. It was the 1st human infection in
almost a year. Experts said Huang's case was not unexpected, as the
virus is more active [i.e. transmissible - Mod.CP] during the cooler
months between October and March, but they also said it pointed to
holes in the virus surveillance system covering poultry. The H5N1
virus remains largely a disease among birds, but experts fear it
could change into a form that is easily transmitted among humans and
spark a pandemic.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>

[After the lapse of almost one year without a case, there have been 4
human cases of avian A/H5N1 influenza reported from China since
beginning of 2009: A 19-year-old woman living in Beijing; a
2-year-old girl contracting infection in Hunan province and treated
in Shanxi province, now critically ill; a 27-year-old woman in
Shandong province who died; and now a 16-year-old student in Guizhou
province, who remains in a critical condition. None of these cases
are connected, and there has been no spread so far to contacts. In 3
of the cases, exposure to diseased poultry has been confirmed.

The Chinese authorities have stepped up their monitoring of the sale
of live poultry in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, which
begins on Mon 26 Jan 2009. The government has warned that the
approach of the holiday -- and an increase in the sale and movement
of poultry -- brings a higher risk of the emergence of an epidemic.
The total number of confirmed bird flu cases recorded in China is now 35.

A map of the provinces of China is available at
<http://www.sacu.org/provmap.html>,
and the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of China is available
at <http://healthmap.org/promed/en?v=36.5,103.9,4>. - Mod.CP]

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