A NEW strain of bird flu has claimed two more lives in China's business capital of Shanghai, taking the total number of human deaths attributed to the H7N9 virus to five, state media says.
Four of the deaths have occurred in the commercial hub, while the other was reported in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang on Wednesday.
Chinese authorities are trying to determine how exactly the new variety of bird flu infects people, but say there is no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission.
The number of confirmed cases stands at 14, including six from Shanghai, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which cited health authorities.
The first two deaths occurred in February but were not reported by authorities until late March. Officials said the delay in announcing the results was because it took time to determine the cause of the illnesses.
A 48-year-old poultry transporter was among the latest two reported dead on Thursday while the identity of the other person was not released. Both were said to have died a day earlier.
Authorities said none of the eight people whom the 48-year-old had close contact with had shown signs of infection.
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of a pandemic because the sub-type is not thought to be transmitted from human to human, unlike the more common H5N1 strain.
But health experts have emphasised the need to quickly identify the source of the virus and its mode of transmission to reduce human exposure.
China's Ministry of Agriculture said on Thursday the virus has been detected in pigeon samples collected at a marketplace in Shanghai, according to a Xinhua report, which did not define the nature of the samples.
The more common strain of bird flu, H5N1, killed more than 360 people globally from 2003 until March 12 this year, according to the WHO.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
China reports fifth H7N9 bird flu death
Dengan url
http://citylifehealt.blogspot.com/2013/04/china-reports-fifth-h7n9-bird-flu-death.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
China reports fifth H7N9 bird flu death
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
China reports fifth H7N9 bird flu death
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar