Bird flu pathogen has reached Beijing

Spread of bird flu H7N9 apparently unstoppable

14.04.2013

More and more people in China are suffering from the hitherto little-known bird flu virus H7N9. Meanwhile, the first infection was detected in Beijing. According to the Chinese news agency „Xinhua“ "The number of bird flu infections with evidence of the seven-year-old girl in Beijing increased to 44 throughout China". Eleven of those affected did not survive the H7N9 infection.

Beijing Municipal Health Bureau deputy director Zhong Dongbo said at a recent news conference that the infected girl is currently being hospitalized „Beijing Ditan Hospital is treated and in stable condition.“ For the first time, an infection with the avian influenza virus H7N9 has been officially confirmed in Beijing. The previous infections concerned only Shanghai and the surrounding provinces.

Influenza experts: Everything is possible
With increasing evidence of H7N9 infection in China, concern among influenza professionals worldwide is growing. So explained Dr. Keiji Fukuda, from the World Health Organization (WHO) that currently „almost everything you can imagine“ be. In the end, however, would „probably the things that you can not imagine happen“, said the influenza expert, who also spent several years working for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States, before moving to the WHO. In the worst case scenario, a human-to-human variant of the avian influenza virus could have evolved or already developed, bringing with it a global spread of pandemic infections.

The route of infection has not been conclusively clarified
In fact, it has not yet been clarified how those affected became infected with the bird flu virus. But according to the experts, it does not seem at present "as if the virus spreads from person to person". For example, "people who were in close contact with the infected girl in Beijing had no symptoms of influenza". However, the child's parents work in trade in live poultry, so infection could have been done in this way. The seven-year-old girl was admitted to the Beijing Ditan Clinic on Thursday morning with severe flu symptoms, high-grade fever, cough, sore throat and headache, which subsequently resulted in severe pneumonia. In the meantime, a care of the girl in the intensive care unit, after her condition had initially worsened on Friday.

Do not stop the spread of H7N9 flu viruses
The Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization have been alarmed since the first death in China due to an infection with H7N9 virus occurred around a month ago. On-site possible ways of transmission are analyzed and known infection risks are eliminated. For example, after proving the causative agent of pigeons in Shanghai, the authorities deliberately killed thousands of birds, in particular ducks, chickens, geese and pigeons. The live-poultry trade on the markets in Shanghai was initially banned, and vaccination should protect poultry in other regions. However, efforts apparently did not prevent the spread of the pathogens to Beijing. The initially localized wave of infection seems to develop into an epidemic, which could eventually spread to other countries. Not least for this reason, the health authorities of many countries China have offered their support in the fight against H7N9 infections.

Openly dealing with the threat of bird flu
Many praised the relatively open handling of the Chinese authorities with the possible health threat from the avian influenza virus. When the SARS pandemic started in China about ten years ago, the behavior here was largely characterized by secrecy and cover-up. Currently, most of the information available has been passed on by the official side in a timely manner. However, the Chinese media also asked why 27 days elapsed between the first H7N9 death and its public confirmation. The competent authorities stated that confirmation of the cause of death had taken so long because the virus had never been identified in humans before. (Fp)

Also read:
No all-clear for bird flu virus H7N9

Picture: Aka