On November 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that China is investigating three suspected cases of avian influenza in the country, including one fatality.
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At a poultry farm in Inner Mongolia, China |
This week, the WHO will dispatch a team of specialists to Hunan Province in southern China to investigate three pneumonia patients that Chinese authorities have ruled out as having contracted avian influenza. All three individuals live near an outbreak area of avian flu. One of the patients is a 12-year-old girl who has died.
Test results confirming or ruling out avian influenza in these three patients will be released within at least a week, according to Roy Wadia, a spokesperson for the WHO in China.
Meanwhile, the government of Liaoning Province, which has culled approximately 10 million poultry, reported that preliminary tests have ruled out avian influenza in humans, although a female worker at a local poultry farm is suffering from pneumonia of unknown origin.
To control the spread of avian influenza in China, millions of poultry have been slaughtered. The country has also initiated a mandatory vaccination plan for poultry.
T.VY (According to Reuters)
