New bird flu strand could be linked to dead pigs in Shanghai river: expert
A
worker cleaning up dead pigs out of the river. (Photo/Xinhua)
1
April, 2013
The
new strand of the bird flu that has already killed two people and
left another critically ill in eastern China could be linked to the
thousands of dead pigs found floating in a Shanghai river last month,
according to a Hong Kong infectious disease expert.
China's
Ministry of Health and the National Health and Family Planning
Commission announced on Sunday the world's first reported cases of
the H7N9 virus, a new subtype of the avian influenza. The virus has
already killed two men, aged 87 and 27, from Shanghai, while a
35-year-old woman from Anhui province remains in critical condition.
Health
authorities said there is currently insufficient data to suggest that
the new strand could spread among humans, especially as 88 close
contacts of the three had tested negative for the virus. As of now
there is no vaccine available.
Ho
Pak-leung, director of the Infectious Disease Center at the
University of Hong Kong, told reporters that the H7N9 cases could be
related to the 10,000-plus pig carcasses that were pulled out of
Shanghai's Huangpu River since early March. Local media reports
attributed the mass dumping to a swine epidemic earlier in the year.
While
there is no concrete evidence to suggest a definitive link between
the two, the fact that the 27-year-old victim was a pork seller means
health departments should collect samples of the dead pigs to see if
they have been affected by the same virus, Ho said.
The
previous outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu that first struck
China in 2003 belonged to the H5 subtype, Ho said. This time the
human infection appears to be different and suggests that this strand
of the avian influenza might be evolving.
Ho
is not the only person to draw a link between the new bird flu and
the pig carcasses. Yuen Kwok-yung, a professor in the microbiology
department at the University of Hong Kong, told reporters that while
the H7N9 subtype should be low pathogenic, the virus could have
mutated after infecting the pigs. However, Yuen urged the public not
to panic until all necessary tests have been carried out.
Many
of China's internet users have also drawn a direct relationship
between the flu and the pigs, with some saying it is obvious that
birds passed the virus to pigs, which were then consumed by humans.
Huang
Li-min, the director of infection in children at National Taiwan
University Hospital, said the recent deaths in China are not a
coincidence and that the fatality rate could be high if the virus
turns out to be highly pathogenic. The virus does not necessarily
have to go from bird to pig to human; it is possible that the virus
could be transmitted directly from birds to humans, Huang said,
adding that at this stage, the disease should be controllable as long
as it is not spread from human to human.
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