Four cases of avian influenza have been confirmed in China since the start of 2009, already one more than the total for 2008.
Xu Chao Liu Jingjing, Caijing 24 January 2009
Huang Yanqing’s death can be traced back to December 19, 2008, the day she helped her father to remove feathers from a dead duck.
Within five days, the 19-year-old Beijing girl developed the symptoms of a common cold. Her family brought her medicine and kept an eye on her over the next day as she seemed to recover. But Huang’s temperature climbed sharply overnight, scaring her father enough that he decided to bring her to the Guanzhuang Hospital in the city’s Chaoyang district. After a simple inquiry, the doctor put her on an IV for three days.
Huang’s condition didn’t improve. Her father transferred her to another hospital on December 28, hoping the new facility would find a cure. The doctor diagnosed Huang with pneumonia after taking an X-ray, and prescribed another three days on an IV. There was no effect. Huang’s temperature reached 40.5 degrees centigrade on the night of December 29. She was transferred one more time to a hospital that specialized in respiratory treatment. There she received an accurate diagnosis of avian influenza on January 4. She died one day later.
Huang has become an emblem for a rash of bird flu infecting people across China. Hers was Beijing’s second death from H5N1, a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza that can spread to people, and the thirty-fourth case of the virus nationwide as of January 2009.
Since H5N1 first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, the number of deaths from the virus has swelled so that, according to the World Health Organization, China now only trails Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt for having the most in the world.
The situation has taken an alarming turn this year. There are already four confirmed cases of bird flu since January 1, 2009. For all of 2008, there were only three. A 27-year-old Shandong woman died January 17 from the virus. That same day another case was confirmed in a two-year-old girl, and on January 20, a sixteen-year-old boy perished in Hunan.
At a press conference held January 12 by the Ministry of Health, spokesman Mao Qunan said the new cases of bird flu will be dealt with in a timely and effective manner. Earlier, Shu Yuelong, the director of the Chinese National Influenza Center (CNIC), told Caijing that the government is being forthright about all information related to the virus and new cases. This was seconded by the director of Disease Control and Prevention (CCDCP), Wang Jian.
China has set up two monitoring systems in the past five year to keep track of cases of lung ailments like avian influenza. Another 63 labs have the capability to test for H5N1, and that number will soon be increased to 84, according to Ma Jiaqi, director of information at CCDCP.
But is this enough? It took ten days for Huang’s case to be recognized, while the most effective treatments for bird flu, which offer the greatest chance of recovery, should be administered within one week, said Beijing’s municipal health bureau.
Peng Jie, the two-year-old girl affected by the H5N1 virus is undergoing treatment. If she survives, she will be the eleventh to do so out of the 34 total cases. Peng is already fairing better than her mother, He Wenmei, who after sharing some chicken with her daughter, died January 9 from what her death certificate said was adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), an ailment caused by trauma to the lungs.
Although CNIC Director Shu Yuelong assured the public that H5N1 does not have the ability to infect large numbers of people, his words have done little to allay concerns that China’s monitoring system is underequipped to keep track of the virus. An official from the Hunan Municipal Health Bureau who asks to remain anonymous told Caijing that hospitals in Hunan, even some of the most advanced facilities, need to improve their abilities to diagnose bird flu.
In addition to accurate diagnoses, the government must convey to primary level hospital staff that H5N1 may occur in any region of the country, said Guanzhi, a professor at Hong Kong University. It is critical that they know so what happened to Huang won’t be repeated.
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Human Bird Flu on the Rise
Four cases of avian influenza have been confirmed in China since the start of 2009, already one more than the total for 2008.
Xu Chao Liu Jingjing, Caijing
24 January 2009
Huang Yanqing’s death can be traced back to December 19, 2008, the day she helped her father to remove feathers from a dead duck.
Within five days, the 19-year-old Beijing girl developed the symptoms of a common cold. Her family brought her medicine and kept an eye on her over the next day as she seemed to recover. But Huang’s temperature climbed sharply overnight, scaring her father enough that he decided to bring her to the Guanzhuang Hospital in the city’s Chaoyang district. After a simple inquiry, the doctor put her on an IV for three days.
Huang’s condition didn’t improve. Her father transferred her to another hospital on December 28, hoping the new facility would find a cure. The doctor diagnosed Huang with pneumonia after taking an X-ray, and prescribed another three days on an IV. There was no effect. Huang’s temperature reached 40.5 degrees centigrade on the night of December 29. She was transferred one more time to a hospital that specialized in respiratory treatment. There she received an accurate diagnosis of avian influenza on January 4. She died one day later.
Huang has become an emblem for a rash of bird flu infecting people across China. Hers was Beijing’s second death from H5N1, a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza that can spread to people, and the thirty-fourth case of the virus nationwide as of January 2009.
Since H5N1 first appeared in Hong Kong in 1997, the number of deaths from the virus has swelled so that, according to the World Health Organization, China now only trails Indonesia, Vietnam and Egypt for having the most in the world.
The situation has taken an alarming turn this year. There are already four confirmed cases of bird flu since January 1, 2009. For all of 2008, there were only three. A 27-year-old Shandong woman died January 17 from the virus. That same day another case was confirmed in a two-year-old girl, and on January 20, a sixteen-year-old boy perished in Hunan.
At a press conference held January 12 by the Ministry of Health, spokesman Mao Qunan said the new cases of bird flu will be dealt with in a timely and effective manner. Earlier, Shu Yuelong, the director of the Chinese National Influenza Center (CNIC), told Caijing that the government is being forthright about all information related to the virus and new cases. This was seconded by the director of Disease Control and Prevention (CCDCP), Wang Jian.
China has set up two monitoring systems in the past five year to keep track of cases of lung ailments like avian influenza. Another 63 labs have the capability to test for H5N1, and that number will soon be increased to 84, according to Ma Jiaqi, director of information at CCDCP.
But is this enough? It took ten days for Huang’s case to be recognized, while the most effective treatments for bird flu, which offer the greatest chance of recovery, should be administered within one week, said Beijing’s municipal health bureau.
Peng Jie, the two-year-old girl affected by the H5N1 virus is undergoing treatment. If she survives, she will be the eleventh to do so out of the 34 total cases. Peng is already fairing better than her mother, He Wenmei, who after sharing some chicken with her daughter, died January 9 from what her death certificate said was adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), an ailment caused by trauma to the lungs.
Although CNIC Director Shu Yuelong assured the public that H5N1 does not have the ability to infect large numbers of people, his words have done little to allay concerns that China’s monitoring system is underequipped to keep track of the virus. An official from the Hunan Municipal Health Bureau who asks to remain anonymous told Caijing that hospitals in Hunan, even some of the most advanced facilities, need to improve their abilities to diagnose bird flu.
In addition to accurate diagnoses, the government must convey to primary level hospital staff that H5N1 may occur in any region of the country, said Guanzhi, a professor at Hong Kong University. It is critical that they know so what happened to Huang won’t be repeated.
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