Beijing (dpa) - Authorities in Shanghai closed all poultry markets
Friday and began culling birds at a major wholesale market, after the
death toll from the H7N9 strain of bird flu rose to six, reports
said.
All birds from the Huhuai wholesale farm product market in the
city's Songjiang district were to be killed to prevent the spread of
the disease, after the H7N9 virus was found in pigeons at the site,
state media quoted Shanghai authorities and the Agriculture Ministry
as saying.
A 64-year-old farmer died Friday in Huzhou city in Zhejiang
province, which borders Shanghai, while two people died from the
virus in Shanghai Thursday.
China has reported 14 confirmed infections with H7N9 in Shanghai,
Zhejiang and neighbouring Jiangsu, including six deaths.
It is the first country to report the new strain of bird flu in
humans.
There has been no confirmed human-to-human transmission of the
virus, but one patient in Shanghai developed flu-like symptoms after
contact with a bird flu victim, and has been quarantined, the
official Xinhua news agency said.
Health officials warned that poultry farmers and traders, butchers
and meat processors were among the groups most at risk of infection.
Concern over possible under reporting of infections was raised
after two sons of an 87-year-old Shanghai man who died of H7N9 were
both treated for severe pneumonia, from which one of them died.
"Retrospective testing of recently reported cases with severe
respiratory infection may uncover additional cases that were
previously unrecognized," the World Health Organization said
Thursday.
A 14-year-old Thai tourist who died from severe pneumonia Thursday
in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan tested negative for
the virus, the agency quoted health officials as saying.
Health authorities nationwide have ordered medical staff to
strengthen monitoring and prepare isolation units for possible new
infections with H7N9 avian influenza.
Copyright 2013 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH