Two die as bird flu cases escalate across eastern China, Taiwan
Official sources say the H7N9 strain of avian influenza claimed two lives in Fujian province, with further examples in Zhejiang while a cull gets underway in Taiwan
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 17 January, 2015, 2:23pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 17 January, 2015, 7:07pm
Agence France-Presse in Beijing
A farmer puts baskets of newly hatched ducklings in a hatch room at a poultry egg trading market in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Photo: Reuters
Two people have died of the H7N9 strain of avian flu in China’s eastern province of Fujian, state media said on Saturday, quoting local health officials.
Fujian has confirmed 15 cases since the start of this year, Xinhua news agency reported. It did not say when the two patients died.
Another human infection was reported in the adjacent province of Jiangxi on Friday, Xinhua said, while both the municipality of Shanghai and neighbouring Zhejiang province have reported cases “this winter”.
Cases of the virus accelerated in China last year, with statistics compiled by health authorities in Beijing showing 310 cases were diagnosed on the mainland from January until December 10, including 132 deaths. Another death was recorded on December 29.
Taiwan Animal Disease Control Centre operatives gather geese at a farm as the begin a cull of 22,000 birds on Saturday. Photo: AFP
In 2013, the country recorded 46 deaths and 144 cases since the outbreak started in March of that year.
The virus ignited fears that it could mutate to become easily transmissible between people, threatening a global pandemic.
But Chinese officials and the WHO have said there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, despite occasional instances of apparent infection between family members.
The report came as Taiwan said it had begun culling an additional 22,000 birds on Saturday after they tested positive for the H5 strain of the virus in the island’s worst bout of the disease in a decade.
Taiwan has reported several outbreaks of H5N2 but has no recorded cases of the potentially deadly H5N1 strain, although authorities said pet birds smuggled from China tested positive for the strain in 2005 and 2012.
