Credit FAO
# 8200
While it may seem like a statement of the obvious, Feng Zijian, deputy director of China’s CDC has taken to the Chinese airwaves to warn that they expect the number of H7N9 cases to increase in the coming weeks, and that the elderly and the chronically ill should limit their exposure to live poultry.
Despite continued warnings over the dangers of exposure to live poultry, live markets remain open in many regions, and when markets are closed, they tend to remain closed only long enough for disinfection of the seller’s stalls.
Last October, in The Lancet: Poultry Market Closure Effect On H7N9 Transmission, the consensus was the closure of live markets – while costly, and not particularly popular among many in China – was largely responsible for the rapid decline in human cases during the first outbreak.
But attempts in China, Indonesia, and in other countries to close or strictly regulate live bird markets in the past have been met with tremendous public resistance (see 2009 blog China Announces Plan To Shut Down Live Poultry Markets In Many Cities). Purchasing live market birds is deeply ingrained in the culture, as it reassures the buyer that the bird is both fresh and healthy.
So , with the Chinese New Year’s celebrations a little more than a week away and poultry sales at their yearly height, authorities have been reluctant to implement the same sorts of controls that worked so well last spring.
This report from www.taiwan.cn
China CDC: H7N9 infections will grow further
At 20:12 on January 21 2014 Source: China National Radio
Central Broadcasting Network Beijing January 21 news (reporter Feng Huiling), according to Voice of China "National Network News" reported that the Chinese Feng Zijian, deputy director of the CDC, said: winter season is high season for H7N9 avian flu, there will be a certain number of future cases of infection, the common people, especially the elderly, the chronically ill and other high-risk groups should minimize contact with live poultry.
By the end of 2013, around 144 cases of H7N9 were reported in patients diagnosed in 2014 after just 20 days, the figure is refreshed exceeded 200 cases. Feng Zijian analysts believe that in the future this figure will grow.
Feng Zijian: We are from last April to now, will soon break through the 200 cases. Since October, especially in the next 12 months, the incidence peaks in the winter season once again appeared in the southeast region of the province, the number of the onset of more and more, the level of six or seven cases reported each day, the next period of time may also Further growth.
Feng Zijian suggested that ordinary people, especially the elderly, the chronically ill and other high-risk groups should minimize contact with live poultry.
Feng Zijian: Our control measures, from the health care system, we are strengthening the monitoring, the improvement of our treatment, diagnosis improving, including the level of treatment of the patient. Of course, we also promote consumer education to reduce exposure and poultry, especially in high-risk elderly, the chronically ill, immunocompromised patients, and to minimize contact with live poultry.
