China Fights Spread of Deadly Avian Virus
18, 2017
BEIJING — The Chinese authorities are battling a surge in H7N9 "bird flu" infections,
and have shuttered live poultry markets across the country after dozens of people in recent weeks were killed by the disease.
The strain, H7N9, is an avian influenza virus that can infect people who come in close contact with infected live or newly killed birds.
As of Friday, health officials confirmed eight deaths and 77 diagnosed cases just in February, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
Since November, there have been at least 355 confirmed H7N9 cases in mainland China, according to the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection.
In Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in southwest China, three people were detained by the police for spreading rumors
that bird flu had been found there, the police said on Friday.
China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission has banned sales of live poultry in some areas across eastern, southern and southwestern China.
An outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which spread across China in 2003, deeply
damaged public trust in the government after senior officials tried to conceal its spread.
