# 2647
While admittedly vague, and couched in terms like `no evidence to show' (which always sounds to me like it was drafted by a lawyer) - and lacking specificity (who are these `experts' and what tests were run?) - today's announcement that the Beijing case showed `no evidence' of a dangerous mutation is at least a little comforting.
Not that we were expecting anything else.
Had the 19-year-old who died from the H5N1 bird flu virus been infected with a mutated, easy-to-spread strain, they would be hip deep in bird flu patients by now.
At last report, there were no other human cases.
This report from Reuters.
Monday January 12, 2009
China says no evidence of bird flu virus mutation
BEIJING (Reuters) - China does not have any evidence to suggest that the bird flu virus has mutated into a form which can be transmitted from person to person, the Health Ministry said on Monday, after a woman died last week in Beijing.
The 19-year-old died of the H5N1 strain of the virus after gutting ducks, which experts say highlights the role and risks of waterfowl in the transmission of the virus to humans.
It was the first such death in the country in almost a year, and the 21st to date in China. "According to information provided by experts, there is no evidence to show that the bird flu virus has mutated into a form which may cause transmission from person to person," ministry spokesman Mao Qunan told a news conference.
"We remind everyone that at the same time as paying attention to protecting themselves, they should not have unnecessary fears," he added, according to a transcript carried on government website www.china.gov.cn.
Of course, it isn't likely that Huang Yanqing, age 19, was unlucky enough to buy and slaughter the only infected duck in all of Hebei Province.
Ducks and geese are natural reservoirs of avian viruses, and unlike chickens, can often carry them without ill effects. So the odds are that an unknown number of infected birds are sold each day.
Luckily, avian flu remains difficult for humans to catch. Otherwise we'd be seeing far more cases among poultry sellers, and buyers.
How long this remains so, is of course, unknown.
UPDATED 0750 hrs ET
In a related story, Xinhua News is reporting that the remaining contacts of Huang Yanqing - who were under medical observation - are no longer being monitored.
Beijing bird flu victim's close contacts removed from medical observation
www.chinaview.cn
2009-01-12 19:32:57
BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Doctors have discharged from observation all 200 people who had been in close contact with a woman who died of bird flu in Beijing early this month, the Municipal Health Bureau announced on Monday.
The bureau also reported no new suspected bird flu cases as of midday Monday, after having surveyed at least 358,820 people on Sunday.
Beijing municipal health authorities started to monitor migrant workers and high-risk groups who had been involved in poultry farming, slaughtering, and sales, after they confirmed a 19-year-old woman was infected with bird flu and died in Beijing on Jan. 5.
Huang Yanqing, a native of eastern Fujian Province, was the first human bird flu case reported in Beijing since 2003, according to the municipal health bureau.
