The farmer from Jian'ou of southeast China's Fujian Province who contracted the bird flu
late last month remains in critical condition but is not worsening,
according to local sources.
The 44-year-old woman, surnamed Li, is being treated at the
Jian'ou City Hospital. A team of medical specialist have been going
all out to save her life, said Yu Jian, mayor of Jian'ou, a
county-level city in northeastern Fujian.
He was speaking to a panel of experts from international
organizations attending a forum held here on Monday.
Panel members include Dr. Chin-Kei Lee, the representative of
World Health Organization (WHO) to China, Xu Zhen, the coordinator
to WHO's representative to China, and Guo Fusheng, the
representative of Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the
United Nations to China.
The specialists visited Li's home, inspected the poultry shed
where she raised the chickens and interviewed villagers.
"Li ate the infected chickens, but I think the infection was
likely contracted during the slaughter and handling of the dead
chickens, not by consumption," said Dr. Chin-Kei Lee.
Li had eaten two chickens she had raised, but her husband and
son, who also ate the chicken, have not fallen ill.
There have been no reports of a large number of dead birds in
the village. "There is no need to panic," said Lee, who also urged
more to be done to raise public awareness of the causes of bird
flu.
Li is the country's first human case of bird flu since China
reported on Jan. 10 that a 37-year-old farmer in east China's Anhui Province had contracted bird flu in
December. He has since recovered.
Li is a native of Damiao Village, a marketplace in the
mountainous Town of Xiaosong. The woman farmer, who kept only five
chickens at her home, developed symptoms of fever on Feb. 18. She
visited village clinics and town hospitals before being
hospitalized on Feb. 24 in the Jian'ou City Hospital. The Chinese
Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the case on
Feb. 27.
Specialists and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture are
taking a number of measures to prevent further infection in the
area including expanding disinfecting and monitoring areas.
The bird flu virus has killed 14 people in China since 2003.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)