No poultry contact in some China bird flu cases: WHO

Reading this news article this morning left me a little more concerned about the possible outbreak of this new strain of bird flu H7N9. I admit I was not very concerned about this particular threat just due to China's constant battle with bird flu type virus', and then I read this:

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that a number of people who have tested positive for a new strain of bird flu in China have had no history of contact with poultry, adding to the mystery about the virus that has killed 16 people to date.
Chinese authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed some live poultry markets to try and stem the rate of human infection, but many questions remain unsolved including whether the H7N9 strain is being transmitted between people.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl confirmed that "there are people who have no history of contact with poultry", after a top Chinese scientist was quoted as saying about 40 percent of those with the H7N9 flu had had no poultry contact.

Reading this leaves one puzzled as to how they would come into contact with the virus if they had no contact with poultry, and it's not being transferred human to human. Before today they had ruled out human to human transmission and said that it was due to direct contact with poultry. Now they are at least opening up the possibility for human to human transmission:

Several avenues should be explored by an international team of experts going to China soon, including the possibility that the virus can be spread between people, although there is "no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission", Hartl said. "It might be because of dust at the wet markets, it could be another animal source beside poultry, it could also be human-to-human transmission," he added by telephone.

This is what raised my level of concern, as well as this:

China has warned that the number of infections could rise from the current 77. The latest victims are from the commercial capital of Shanghai, where the majority of the cases have been found, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

Source

What has since been edited out of this story is the fact that there has now been cases confirmed in Beijing. This is a major transit hub for China, and spread from there would happen quickly if it is actually being transmitted human to human.

Another thing that has since been conveniently edited out of the article was the fact that the CDC has already started working on a vaccine. It stated in the article that it was "a just in case precaution that was being taken so that they are prepared in the event that this does become more widespread."

Some people here were waiting to see what the CDC's action would be on this, and if they had started working on a vaccine then it meant that the situation was far worse than what was being reported. Hope this doesn't become the next big epidemic, but I will definitely be watching it more closely now with these developments.

Thank you for this update OP - this is definitely alarming. The only thing that has insulated us globally from this threat is that the virus couldn't be transmitted human-to-human. But with this potential shift, combined with the CDC's formulation of a vaccine, there is cause for multiple suspicions. I'll keep an eye on this

reply to post by SpaDe_
Is it possible that it is spreading via eating undercooked, contaminated poultry that was shipped out before discovery? If it's not spreading by human to human contact and people are contracting the illness who haven't been working around live poultry the next logical explanation I would investigate would be contaminated poultry and eggs.

I like WHO better than the USA health released information. I do like viewing the research itself in the USA but don't like how it is interpreted. I also like some of the stuff coming out of India and research Japan's stuff also. China has a lot of real medical knowledge but for me it is hard to understand. I can just barely understand Ayurveda but see a lot of real stuff in it when compared to Pharmaceutical science. S&F for bringing this article to my attention.

They could be using the chicken manure for fertilizer somewhere. The virus could become airborne and go onto the harvested foods there and be spread all over the country or even world.

Did no one pay attention in High School Biology class? Advanced Biology? Human Anatomy? A Virus is a virus. If humans have caught it then they are spreading it. A virus lives for a few seconds to two weeks on a surface before it dies. Viruses can be in plants and insects as well as water supplies, or even airborne.
Wash hands hourly. Don't touch your eyes or mouth. Stand back seven or more feet from someone else. For the Chinese: face masks and eye wear, limit public errands, wash hands hourly, wash your food off, stop eating out.
If it gets out of control boil your water. If you are sick stay home. Anyone who looks sick should not be allowed to fly or get on a train. Ticket issuers should look at people or take their ear temperature. Germs are hard to contain. Take your Vitamins D and C. I had pnemonia 12 years ago it was bad for a month. Even with modern antibiotics it is still dangerous to get a secondary bacterial respiratory infection. Antibiotics do not work on a virus, antiviral drugs are what they use.

I seriously have felt worried and anxious all week. This is probably a huge problem. Even horses can get influenza and people should think about how they quarantine the animals in a pen away from all the well animals.

reply to post by SpaDe_


reply to post by SpaDe_


More than "some." 87% of H7N9 victims had NO CONTACT with poultry - not 40%. So why do news reports say it's 40%?
[Only 10 of 77 cases had contact with poultry, leaving 67 who had NO contact with poultry (87%).]

Zeng Guang, the chief scientist in charge of epidemiology at the China Disease Prevention and Control Center (CDPCC), said about 40 percent of human victims had no clear history of poultry exposure, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

According to state media reports, only 10 of the 77 cases as of Tuesday have had contact with poultry. The CDPCC declined to comment when asked by Reuters.

Good catch S&F&