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8th case of bird flu diagnosed in city
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Shanghai reported another case of H7N9 bird flu yesterday, bringing the city’s total number of infected patients this year to eight.
A 61-year-old woman surnamed Qin was diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday, the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission said.
She is undergoing treatment, but her condition was not disclosed.
Two people infected with the virus have died in the city this year — a 31-year-old Shanghai emergency room doctor and a 77-year-old farmer.
The local farmer had a history of contact with live poultry while tests are still being conducted to determine the source of the doctor’s infection.
No human to human transmission had been detected in any of the city’s cases, including the doctor’s, Mayor Yang Xiong told reporters yesterday.
Experts are advising people to avoid contact with live poultry and to wash their hands more often.
“Contact with live poultry, either directly or indirectly, can lead to infection,” said Wu Fan, director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
She said anti-viral medication was effective in the early stages but also stressed that there was no evidence the virus could spread between humans.
Shanghai’s first case was reported on January 4, when an 86-year-old man who had bought live poultry from a market was confirmed with the virus.
The other cases, reported in the past two weeks, were a 58-year-old woman and three men aged 35, 54 and 56.
Shanghai’s live poultry markets are to shut from January 31 until April 30 in a bid to prevent more cases.
Chinese traditionally prefer newly butchered poultry, especially during holiday celebrations around the Lunar New Year that starts on January 31 this year.
Shanghai Television reported that some residents were buying up to five live birds each at the Shanghai Agricultural Product Wholesale Market in the Pudong New Area yesterday.
Shoppers told the TV station they were concerned about bird flu but still wanted to buy live poultry.
200 live birds a day
Vendors at the market said most of their customers had been wet markets or other live poultry sellers in the past, but now there were many more residents.
One said he usually sold several dozen birds a day but that soared to between 100 and 200 as the festival approached.
When the ban takes effect, wholesale and retail markets found selling live poultry face fines of up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,956).
Mayor Yang said there were no immediate plans to close the live poultry market permanently although many legislators had asked for such action.
“The city government will make a final decision on whether to close it permanently after wide public soliciting,” Yang said.
Neighboring Zhejiang Province reported five new cases of H7N9 bird flu yesterday. The patients are all aged over 50.
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