12 killed by H7N9 bird flu in China

Agence France-Presse

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Infections see a seasonal spike after China reportedly downgraded the virus

ON ALERT. A woman wears a face mask as she walks past a poster showing how to avoid the H7N9 avian influenza virus, by a road in Beijing on April 24, 2013. Photo by AFP / Wang Zhao

BEIJING, China – Twelve people have been killed by H7N9 bird flu in a single Chinese province this month, state media reported on Monday, January 27, as infections from the virus see a seasonal spike.

The deaths occurred in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing local health authorities.

The report came as China was said to have dropped its previous description of H7N9 bird flu as “infectious” in new guidelines on how to deal with the disease.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission described it as a “communicable acute respiratory disease” in its 2014 diagnosis and treatment protocols. In the 2013 version it was considered an “infectious disease.”

The Beijing Times on Monday quoted an unnamed Beijing disease control center official saying that health authorities decided to “downgrade” the virus on the basis that nearly a year of analysis had shown H7N9 was “not strongly infectious.”

The H7N9 human outbreak began in China in February 2013 and reignited fears that a bird flu virus could mutate to become easily transmissible between people, potentially triggering a pandemic.

The guidelines come as human cases undergo a seasonal spike, with at least 95 cases confirmed in mainland China so far this month, leading to 18 deaths, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of reports.

More than half have been in Zhejiang, with 24 in Guangdong in the south.

That compares with 144 confirmed cases, including 46 deaths, in the whole of 2013 according to official statistics.

It was not clear whether the rise in reported cases is due to the virus becoming more widespread and possibly less severe, or detection and treatment improving.

Cases and deaths dropped significantly after the end of June, but have begun to pick up with the onset of winter.

“So far, most cases have been sporadic and there were some cluster outbreaks among family members,” the commission said in the guidelines.

“But there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission yet,” it said, although it added that “limited” and “unsustained” infections could not be ruled out.

China has been accused of trying to cover up disease, particularly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people around the world in 2003.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has more recently praised its openness and response to the outbreaks of bird flu.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Agence France-Presse: “There’s been an increase in the number of cases, not deaths. The deaths haven’t increased that much.

“This is winter, and all influenza viruses disseminate much more easily, much more widely, in winter, so it is not unexpected to see more cases,” he said.

The health commission guidelines shortened the disease’s incubation period from 7 days to 3 to 4 days, and the Beijing Times said hospitals would reduce the quarantine time for suspected exposures accordingly.

The health commission also inserted the phrase “particularly the elderly” in its description of those vulnerable to the virus, who it specifies are those who have had contact with poultry or have been to a live poultry market in the week before showing symptoms. – Rappler.com

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