Authorities slaughter more than 20,000 birds after H7N9 strain of virus is detected in pigeons and human death toll rises to six
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Email Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 April 2013 11.15 BST
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Chinese health workers collect bags of chickens culled at Shanghai's poultry market after the H7N9 strain of the bird flu virus was detected in pigeons. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Officials have closed Shanghai's poultry market and slaughtered more than 20,000 birds as the death toll from a new outbreak of bird flu rose to six.
Huhai market for live birds was closed after authorities detected traces of the H7N9 virus in pigeons, according to the Xinhua state news agency.
Live poultry trading sections of two markets in the city's Minhang district have also been shuttered. Online videos showed groups of workers in protective suits shoving chicken carcasses into rubbish bags.
Since last month, 14 cases of H7N9 infection have been reported in Shanghai and four eastern provinces, the first time the strain has been detected in humans.
Chinese health authorities are actively monitoring 400 people who have been in contact with H7N9 patients, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has said that the virus cannot be transmitted from person to person.
Scientists, however, are particularly concerned about two of the virus's traits. H7N9 does not show symptoms in infected birds, allowing it to spread rapidly without detection. It also seems to be mutating quickly, meaning it could become contagious among humans.
According to Xinhua, Shanghai's health authorities announced on Thursday night that someone who had close contact with one of the city's H7N9 victims was currently being treated for flu-like symptoms
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it was developing a vaccine for the virus. The commercial production of a H7N9 vaccine commercially has become a subject of hot debate among public health experts, according to Reuters.
"There is a possibility now that flu researchers will all rush to work on H7N9 and grants will be awarded for intensive research to develop vaccines … and that could be pouring money down a drain because it could be that the barriers for this virus are high enough that we don't need to worry about it," Wendy Barclay, a flu virologist at Imperial College London told the news agency.
China's public health system has changed dramatically since 2003, when the Sars virus killed hundreds of people in southern China and the government hushed up news of its spread. Chinese authorities co-operated with the WHO when responding to an outbreak of the more virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu in 2007 and a hand, foot and mouth disease epidemic a year later.
On Friday, H7N9 was the most-discussed topic on the social network Sina Weibo. Most threads concerned ways to prevent the disease but suspicions of a cover-up were also widely voiced. Many Weibo users wondered why the Shanghai authorities waited weeks to announce the first two cases in March.
Some cast doubts on the government's assertion that the virus had no connection to the thousands of dead pigs that were dredged from a Shanghai river last month. Earlier this week, a self-identified hospital administrator in Nanjing leaked a bird flu diagnosis on to Weibo. Although the post was initially censored, health officials later confirmed the case.
"If there is anything that Sars has taught China and its government, it's that one cannot be too careful or too honest when it comes to deadly pandemics," Xinhua wrote on Wednesday. "The last 10 years have taught the government a lot, but it is far from enough."
Vietnam and Hong Kong have temporarily banned Chinese poultry imports, and airports in Japan have put up notices warning passengers from China to report any flu-like symptoms to medical professionals. Stock prices for mainland poultry-meat producers have plummeted, while pharmaceutical company stocks have surged.
