Photo Credit – FAO
# 7199
A remarkable statistic in China’s H7N9 bird flu outbreak is that more than twice as many people (n=120) have tested positive for the virus as have birds.
The Ministry of Agriculture found, that out of more than 68,000 samples tested, only 46 were positive for the H7N9 virus.
Or about 1 in every 1478 samples tested.
Which would seem to leave 3 possibilities:
- The virus is not widespread in poultry
- The tests being used are not sensitive enough to detect the virus
- China’s surveillance program is looking for bird flu in all the wrong places.
When coupled with a lack of overt symptoms in birds, H7N9 lives up to its billing as being a `stealth virus’, which will make its detection and eradication extremely difficult.
Ministry of Agriculture: poultry farms around the present and H7N9
April 27, 2013 08:54:50
Source: Beijing NewsUp to now, a total of confirmed H7N9 avian influenza 120 people, of which 23 people died, the cases were distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan, Shandong, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan and other places. Cases in the dissemination of state, also found no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
According to Xinhua News Agency reporter on the 26th learned from the Ministry of Agriculture, Up to now around not isolated from poultry farms to the H7N9 avian influenza virus, also found no pigs infected with the virus, the H7N9 avian influenza virus has been found that 46 positive samples from live poultry operations market, pigeons and pigeon farmers.
As of 26 provinces and the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory were detected in 68060 etiology samples, found that 46 H7N9 avian influenza virus, the positive rate of 0.07%. Among them, 44 were from Shanghai, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Henan provinces (municipalities) 14 live poultry business market (points) poultry and environmental samples; 2 positive samples from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province wild pigeon samples from MSC County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, Pigeon farmers. The remaining samples were negative.
In addition, the information published on the 26th by the Information Office of the Ministry of Agriculture, Zhejiang Province, animal disease prevention and control center detected 6 chicken suspected positive samples for review by the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory confirmed, 3 were positive for H7N9 avian influenza, samples from Zhejiang Province, Lin'an, Hangzhou operating point, the highly homologous isolates April 4, the H7N9 avian influenza virus strains isolated from pigeons.
For more on the challenges facing China’s poultry industry with this virus, you may wish to revisit:
FAO On Biosecurity Challenges Of H7N9
