| Random Character |
|---|
|
| China premier urges action against bird flu |
|
|
|
|
China is facing "a very serious situation" as bird flu spreads and local governments should step up efforts to fight the deadly virus, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday during a visit to the country's worst-hit area.
Wen said provinces with large poultry populations and areas close to outbreaks should set up emergency plans, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "Bird flu has not been totally controlled in China and the danger of its spread still exists in some areas," Xinhua quoted Wen as saying in bird flu-hit Heishan county, part of Liaoning province in the country's northeast. The Liaoning outbreak is China's fourth this month and its largest. Xinhua said the virus had spread to another three townships in the area and that 10 million poultry there had been slaughtered. "Task forces have been set up to provide quarantine and medical services," the report said. China has yet to report a human case of bird flu, which has killed 64 people in Asia since 2003, though the World Health Organisation is helping probe a possible case in Hunan province, which had an outbreak in October. Humans can contract the disease from handling sick poultry or through their droppings, though it remains mostly a disease in birds. But scientists fear the H5N1 strain of the virus will mutate into a form that can pass easily between people, causing a human pandemic. Source: www.alertnet.org Nov 9, 05 |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|