Bird flu 'out of control' in Chinese province

16:28 11 November 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Gaia Vince

Bird flu special report, New Scientist

The Chinese government says the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in
one of its provinces is not under control and has warned of a potential
disaster there. There have been three fresh outbreaks of the avian virus in the
north-eastern province of Liaoning in 24 hours, and a new suspected
human infection.

And the Middle East has now seen its first definite case of H5N1 bird
flu. The authorities in Kuwait have confirmed that a migratory flamingo
found on a beach died of the lethal strain. They say another bird suspected of
having the virus had the milder H5N2 strain.

There have been six outbreaks in the past month in China and the
government has responded with mass culls of poultry. The most recent outbreaks,
which killed about 1100 chickens, prompted the authorities to cull 670,000
poultry in the areas affected, and place 116 people in quarantine.

The outbreaks are being blamed on migratory birds, but the head of the
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in Beijing said it was possible that
they were due to village-to-village spread of the virus.

Counterfeit vaccines
A Chinese agriculture minister has warned that the country faces a
“disaster” due to the use of sub-standard – and counterfeit – poultry
vaccines. These can mask symptoms of the virus, making control
difficult, or even introduce the virus.

Tests on four people suspected to have contracted bird flu are still
being carried out, one in Liaoning and three in Hunan province. But the
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reports that 121 people from the area in
Liaoning who had suspicious symptoms have now been declared not to have the
disease by the local health ministry.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has killed at least 62 people in Asia
and more than 150 million birds since 2003. In its current form, the virus
has killed 50% of people known to have contracted the virus.

Drug production
To date, there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission,
but experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that can pass easily
among people and spark a global pandemic. After a meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland, this week health experts unveiled a $1 billion plan to fight bird flu,
with assistance from the World Bank.

Vietnam, which has suffered 42 human fatalities – more than any other
country – is currently treating two more suspected cases. It has
announced that it is to begin part-production of the antiviral drug, Tamiflu,
after agreeing a licence with Swiss drug company Roche. It is also planning a
bird flu hospital near its border with Cambodia.

The spread of the virus is expected to increase over the northern
hemisphere winter – assisted by the region’s widely held practice of keeping
backyard poultry, which make large-scale, thorough culls almost impossible.
Indonesia, which has suffered five confirmed human fatalities, has
rejected a $10 million international loan, saying it wants grant money instead.

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