China says bird flu spread slows, vows to stiffen controls, Health Health News according to : Asia One Health

On Saturday, Beijing reported its first human H7N9 case this year, a 68-year-old man from Langfang city in the neighbouring province of Hebei. To fight the spread, the commission is urging stronger monitoring, besides suspending or permanently closing live poultry markets and tightening curbs on bird transport, it said. Authorities have warned against panic and urged precautions, but nevertheless the numbers triggered concern of a repeat of previous health crises, such as the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002. The spread of the virus among fowl in China follows major outbreaks in poultry flocks in neighbouring South Korea and Japan. Exposure to live poultry markets is the "crucial factor" in human infections, the health commission said, adding that the virus had not mutated to spread from human to human.




BEIJING (Reuters) - The rate at which human cases of bird flu are being reported in China is declining, health authorities said on Thursday, vowing to stiffen controls on markets and transport of live poultry to battle the spread of the virus. To fight the spread, the commission is advising local authorities to take stronger measures to monitor the virus, suspend or permanently close live poultry markets and tighten curbs on transport of the animals, it said. (Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Eight new human infections of H7N9 avian flu in the last three days indicate the rate of new cases has clearly declined from the week of Feb. 6 to Feb. 12, when 69 new cases, including 8 deaths, were reported, the National Health and Family Planning Commision said on its website.

January bird flu deaths hit 79, most since at least 2013

An outbreak of H7N9 bird flu in China killed 79 people in January, the most in a single month in at least three years, the country's national health authority said. Local authorities have ordered temporary shutdowns of some poultry markets and ramped up testing. More than 250 cases of H7N9 have been reported to the National Health and Family Planning Commission from 16 provinces and regions. In Guangzhou, China's third-largest city, more than 30 percent of the live poultry markets were recently found to be contaminated with H7N9. January's death toll was the highest for any month since at least November 2013, according to the health commission's website.



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