Distinctive seasonal patterns of bird flu still unclear, WHO official says
18/6/2006 10:10
It remains unclear whether there are truly distinctive seasonal patterns
to outbreaks of the bird flu in poultry, said an official with the World Health
Organization (WHO) on Friday.
"We do know that the bird flu virus can survive
for a time in colder weather, but it's really not clear at this point whether
the virus is changing in such a way that it can survive in warm weather for a
longer period than it was previously able to," said Roy Wadia, spokesman of the
WHO office in China.
Hong Kong's health chief, York Chow, said on Friday that
the latest human case of bird flu on the Chinese mainland might indicate the
virus has mutated and become as infectious in summer months as it is in cooler
months.
"Much more research needs to be carried out on this," Wadia
said.
Virus changes all the time and these changes could make the virus more
transmittable between poultry, from poultry to humans, and from humans to
humans, he told Xinhua in an interview.
"This is why it is so important that
agricultural authorities everywhere -- including the Ministry of Agriculture of
China -- share virus isolates from animal outbreaks with the international
scientific community," he said.
Genetic sequences of H5N1 virus samples have
been shared by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture which is helpful, but
isolates of virus are key to understanding how the virus is changing on the
Chinese mainland, said Wadia.
A 31-year-old man in Shenzhen, South China's
Guangdong Province, was confirmed on Thursday to have contracted bird flu,
bringing the country's total human infections of the disease to 19.
He showed
symptoms of fever and pneumonia on June 3 and is in critical condition, said the
Ministry of Health in a report.
Epidemiological research found Jiang had been
to a local market where live poultry are sold, several times before developing
the symptoms.
The Hong Kong government on Thursday decided to stop poultry
imports from the Chinese mainland and Macau announced on Wednesday it would halt
the import of live poultry from Shenzhen.
"We are concerned if the virus has
changed to become infectious all year round or even more virulent in winter,"
Hong Kong's Health, Food and Welfare Secretary, York Chow, told the media on
Friday.
Xinhua News
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