China probes another possible human bird flu case

November 14, 2005

14 Nov 2005 03:46:06 GMT

Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Nov 14 (Reuters) - China is probing a possible human case

of bird flu in a northeastern province, the World Health

Organisation said on Monday, the second part of the country to make

such a precautionary diagnosis. The Liaoning provincial government,

which has already culled some 10 million birds, said last week that

preliminary exams had ruled out avian influenza in humans, though

one chicken worker was suffering from pneumonia of an unknown

cause. " They said that there is a female poultry worker who's been

diagnosed with pneumonia and she's regarded as a possible human case

(of bird flu) -- they've not excluded her, " said Roy Wadia, the

WHO's China spokesman.

The WHO is sending a team this week to the southern province of

Hunan to investigate three other pneumonia cases which China said

could not be excluded as bird flu as the three lived close to the

site of a poultry outbreak.

One of the pneumonia patients, a 12-year-old girl, died.

Tests to confirm or deny bird flu in the three would take at least a

week, Wadia said.

China has yet to report any human cases of bird flu, which has

killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003, mainly in Vietnam and

Thailand.

So far the deadly H5N1 strain has not shown it can spread easily

among people.

To try to control the spread in China, millions of birds have been

slaughtered and the country has begun a compulsory poultry

vaccination scheme.

While state media said on Monday some parts of Liaoning which had

reported bird flu were now all clear of the disease, over the

weekend the Hong Kong government said Beijing had confirmed an

outbreak in central Hubei province.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week warned the country was facing

a " very serious situation " as the disease had not been brought under

control and was likely to spread.

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