Tests for bird flu negative, says Shenzhen

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Tests for bird flu negative, says Shenzhen

46 people who had contact with second HK victim and two markets given all-clear

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 10 December, 2013, 5:15am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 10 December, 2013, 6:39am

He Huifeng and Phila Siu

Shenzhen authorities say tests carried out since two cases of H7N9 bird flu surfaced in Hong Kong have proved negative.

Forty-six people in Shenzhen who came into contact with Hong Kong's second H7N9 flu patient and samples from two markets close to where the man lives have tested negative.

Ma Hanwu, deputy head of Shenzhen's centre for disease control and prevention, said authorities had been trying to find out if the two Hong Kong patients had been exposed to live poultry in the city.

"So far, the source of the infection cannot be confirmed - Hong Kong or Shenzhen," he said.

Ma said that with the first case - 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper, Tri Mawarti - there was a lack of details to work on.

He said they were confused by the information the maid had given them about her friend in the city.

In the latest case, Ma said the 80-year-old patient had had no contact with live poultry in Shenzhen. The man had eaten chicken twice recently, both cooked by his relatives.

"According to the relatives of the man, one of the two chickens had been in a refrigerator for a long time before being cooked and another was slaughtered and cleaned by a chicken vendor last month at a nearby wet market," Ma said.

He said the samples from two wet markets were not infected with the bird flu virus.

Ma said all 46 people who had been in contact with the man were being kept isolated in their homes but had tested negative.

In Hong Kong, the controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Dr Leung Ting-hung, said Tri might have handled a live chicken in a flat in Nanwan Street, in Longgang district. But Tri could not confirm where she bought it.

And while the elderly man had not handled live chickens in Shenzhen, Leung said his family had bought a slaughtered chicken in a market near Fuyong town in Baoan district.

"However, the exact source of the virus cannot be confirmed yet," he said.

The maid is in a serious condition, while the man is stable.

Ma said the centre had called for an end to live poultry slaughtering in Shenzhen's wet markets to lower the risk of bird flu.

He insisted the municipal health authorities were taking proper measures to deal with the situation. There was no need to introduce extra emergency measures at this stage.