China confirms two human cases of bird flu

updated 1:16 p.m. ET Nov. 16, 2005

BEIJING - China confirmed its first two human cases of bird flu on the mainland Wednesday, including at least one fatality, as the government raced to vaccinate billions of chickens, ducks and other poultry in a massive effort to stop the spread of the virus.

The government suspected a third case of bird flu in a 12-year-old girl who died, but her body was cremated before it could be tested.

The Health Ministry confirmed cases in a poultry worker who died and a 9-year-old boy who fell ill but recovered, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said the boy’s 12-year-old sister, who died, was recorded as a suspected case.

Experts are especially worried about the potential for bird flu to spread and mutate in China because of its vast poultry flocks and their close contact with people. It also is a major migration route for wild fowl, which experts say might be spreading the virus.

China has reported 11 outbreaks in chickens and ducks in the past month nationwide, prompting authorities to destroy millions of birds in an effort to contain the virus. The government also announced an ambitious effort Tuesday to vaccinate all the country’s more than 14 billion farm birds.

The Chinese government has responded quickly to public health threats after being criticized in 2003 for failing to respond to foreign pleas for information and cooperation at the start of its outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Since the SARS outbreak, Beijing has created disease testing laboratories and a national health warning network. It has promised to be more open about epidemics and to cooperate with other nations.

Dick Thompson of the WHO’s Communicable Disease Section told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the outbreaks in China represented “a very disturbing situation.”

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“They have reported these outbreaks rapidly, they’ve been investigated promptly, the laboratory analysis was done under the supervision of WHO,” Thompson said from Geneva. “I think they’re doing the right things. It’s just disappointing that there’s so many human and animal outbreaks.”

The deadly H5N1 virus has killed at least 64 people in Asia since 2003.

The Health Ministry confirmed cases in a 24-year-old female poultry in the eastern province of Anhui who died and a 9-year-old boy in the central province of Hunan who fell ill but recovered, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said the boy’s 12-year-old sister, who died, was recorded as a suspected case.

Both areas reported outbreaks in poultry in the past month.

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