Health minister warns challenge from bird flu human infection after third death

Photo taken on Jan. 13, 2009 shows the living black-headed gulls in the wetland on the bank of the Yellow River in Liujiaxia Township in Yongjing County of northwest China's Gansu Province, China. Tens (Chinese media Photo)
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BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Chinese media) -- China's Health Minister

Chen Zhu admitted here Tuesday that the country faced a "grim" situation to

prevent and control bird flu human infection.

A 16-year-old boy died of bird flu in central Hunan

Province Tuesday morning, the third death in China from the disease so far this

year.

"It is the high season of human bird flu cases," Chen

said at a meeting here.

He asked health departments across the country to

double their efforts and well implement measures to prevent and control the

disease.

Health departments will coordinate with the

agriculture and commerce authorities to control bird flu outbreaks among fowls

so as to prevent them from spreading to human, he said.

Hospitals will spare more resources to diagnose and

treat human bird flu cases while health departments will tighten the monitoring

of the epidemic.

"We will inform the public about the epidemic

situation and the prevention work without delay," he said.

However, a bird flu expert denied a large-scale

outbreak of human bird flu cases at the same meeting.

"The current cases are separate cases. There's no

connection," said Shu Yuelong, vice director of virus control and prevention

with the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. "But these cases

warned us of improving prevention and supervision over the epidemic, and

ensuring early detection and diagnosis when new cases are found."

So far four human bird flu cases have been reported

in Beijing and in three other provinces, with three fatalities.

The only living patient, a two-year-old girl in north

China's Shanxi Province, was still in a critical condition.

"We remain alert to any changes in the pattern, but

the cases so far conform with seasonal patterns we have seen in other years and

in other countries," said the World Health Organization (WHO) China office in an

email interview with Chinese media.

China reported eight cases and six deaths in the

first quarter of 2006, one case and one death in the same time of 2007 and three

cases and three deaths between January and March in 2008, according to the WHO

China office.

The WHO has not changed its pandemic alert level,

which remains at Phase 3, the email statement said. "This signifies that there

has been no or no efficient human-to-human transmission of the virus."

The WHO suggested that it should be important to

treat each case seriously and rule out any changes of the virus or in the

transmission routes.

The WHO will continue to monitor the situation and

stay in close contact with China's Ministry of Health, the statement said,

adding that it will provide technical assistance if requested by Chinese

authorities.

No bird flu epidemic detected in N China's Shanxi after girl infected

TAIYUAN, Jan. 20 (Chinese media) -- No bird flu epidemic has been detected among the 67 people who had been in close contact with a two-year-old patient in north China's Shanxi Province, said an official on Tuesday.

Three of them had been discharged from medical observation and the others had not been detected having bird flu virus, said the official from the provincial health bureau. Full story

227 people under observation in bird flu scare

BEIJING, Jan. 20 (Chinese media) -- At least 227 people who had close contact with two bird flu patients in the provinces of Hunan and Guizhou are under observation, although none has yet been found to be infected, health officials said Tuesday.

A Hunan health department spokesman said 140 people had been examined including the patients' relatives and medical workers in Changsha County and Huaihua City as of Tuesday noon. No abnormalities were found. Full story