Bird flu hits poultry markets in major Chinese city
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Authorities in China's third-largest city warned that about 30percent of its live poultry markets were contaminated with the H7N9 avian fluvirus, as an eastern province ordered markets to shut, state media reported onSaturday.
EastChina's Zhejiang province has ordered all markets across the province to haltlive poultry trade on Saturday over bird flu concerns, state media Xinhuareported citing the province's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
InJanuary, Zhejiang reported 35 infections of the H7N9 strain of bird flu,according to the provincial Health and Family Planning Commission.
Earlieron Saturday, China Daily said the disease control authority in Guangzhou,capital of the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, urged residents to avoidcontact with live poultry after tests in the past week.
Guangzhou,a major port and transportation hub, last month said it would suspend the tradeof live and slaughtered poultry for three-day periods through March to preventthe spread of avian flu to humans.
The latest warning will reinforce concerns about the spread ofthe virus as the death toll in China this winter hit 30 last week andneighbouring South Korea and Japan battle major outbreaks.
Chinesedisease control experts have warned the public to stay alert for H7N9 avianflu, with more than 100 cases of human infections reported over the last 2-1/2months.
InDecember alone, China had 106 cases of human infections, according to theNational Health and Family Planning Commission.
The virus usually strikes in winter and spring, and farmershave in recent years ramped up measures such as cleaning regimes to prevent thedisease.
China has confirmed five bird flu outbreaksamong poultry this winter, which has led to the culling of more than 175,000birds.
Many major cities in the world'sthird-largest producer of broiler chickens and the second-biggest consumer ofpoultry have also closed some live poultry markets after people and chickenswere infected by avian flu strains.
Widespread infection can lead to severehealth risks and big financial losses. The last major outbreak in China was in2013, killing 36 people and causing more than $6 billion in losses for theagricultural sector.
Source:reuters.com
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