China bird flu outbreak: First case reported from Beijing, total cases at 47
With the addition of four more confirmed cases of human H7N9 avian influenza, the total now stands at 47, according to a Bloomberg News report today.
China map (Beijing in red)
Public domain image/Joowwww
There were two new cases reported from Jiangsu and one from Shanghai. However, the fourth case was confirmed in a 7-year-old girl from Beijing, the first case seen outside of eastern China.
Reuters reports that the Beijing case is in a stable condition in a Beijing hospital and samples have been sent to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for further tests. The child’s parent sell live poultry for a living.
The death toll from this outbreak remains at 11.
Taiwan, who has been keeping an extremely close eye on the situation on the Mainland and who has reported dozens of suspected cases, none confirmed, says they have the capabilities to produce 200,000 doses of a vaccine against the new H7N9 avian flu in three months in the event of an emergency.
Focus Taiwan New Channel reports, “The National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) could support Department of Health (DOH) policies to fight disease by producing vaccines if there were an emergency,” said Su Ih-jen, director of the NHRI’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology.
Production could be expanded by three to five times if the necessary equipment and medical personnel were increased, Su said.
“The volume should be able to handle an initial outbreak of the new H7N9 avian flu,” Su said.
To date, the World Health Organization says there is no evidence of ongoing human-to-human transmission.
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