No human infection of bird flu reported in China

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said Thursday that it hasn't received any report on human infection of bird flu.

In an interview with Xinhua, a MOH official, preferring anonymity, said that they have noticed that some overseas media carried stories saying "a girl died of flu-like symptom in bird-flu-affected area in central China's Hunan province".

"But the ministry hasn't received any report on human infectionof bird flu so far," said the official.

An official with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) also said that they are watching closely on the issue. The MOA has worked out an "emergency plan under the situation of human infection", said the official.

The official said that if cases of human infection occure, the MOA will cooperate closely with the MOH to trace the source of theinfection and strengthen quarantine and vaccination.

The Information Office of the State Council has arranged a press conference Friday. Jia Youling, China's Chief Veterinarian and director in charge of veterinary department under the MOA, will be invited to brief media on latest bird flu controlefforts in China.

A Hong Kong-based newspaper reported Thursday that a 12-year-old girl has died suffering flu-like symptoms in a village in Hunan Province where the third outbreak of bird flu in a week has been confirmed.

He Yin and her 10-year-old brother fell ill about a week ago after eating a chicken that had died from an unspecified illness in the village of Wantang, the South China Morning Post said, quoting their father, He Tieguang. "We had dead chickens before and nobody has ever got sick because of that. So I thought it's okay," her father was quoted as saying.

So far there was no evidence linking her death to the outbreak of bird flu in the village in Hunan province and none of the adults in her family had shown any flu symptoms, the paper said.

China reported an outbreak of bird flu in Hunan this week following cases in northern Inner Mongolia and eastern Anhui province which it said had all been brought under control.

The World Health Organization has said the H5N1 strain of bird flu is endemic in poultry across much of Asia. Health experts fear it may only be a matter of time before it develops the ability to pass easily from human to human.

H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in four Asian countries and reached as far west as European Russia, Turkey and Romania, tracking the paths of migratory birds.

China stengthens measures on bird flu prevention

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that his government has set up a national monitoring network and emergency response plans to prevent any future bird flu epidemic.

At the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Moscow on Wednesday, Wen Jiabao said that the cooperation in bird flu prevention is one of the major agreements among the members.

"China and other members should join efforts to combat serious infectious disease, such as bird flu. To enhance the cooperation on the prevention of bird flu is an important target of the organization, which includes Russia, China and four Central Asian states." Wen said.

The Premier added to tackle the bird flu outbreak in parts of the country, the Chinese government is taking several measures. They include launching a mass extermination of birds in the infected area to prevent the disease from spreading to humans; strengthening import and export quarantine and extensive vaccine injection; conducting technological exchanges, cooperating with the international community, and reporting timely on the situation.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is seeking more cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on the prevention and monitoring of bird flu.

Source: Xinhua/People's Daily Online