Jungguda Qush Zukimining 2003-yilidila ademge yuqqanlighi
jezmenleshturuldi

Towendiki xewerde bayan qilishche qush zukimi Jungguda 2003-yilidin
bashlap ademge yuqqan iken. Burun xewerlerde Junggudiki tunji qush
zukimi bilen yuqumlanghan ademning 2005-yili bayqalghanlighi dokilat
qilinghan idi. Bu xewerning ilan qilinishi bilen, BDT ning sehiye
organliri Jungguni Jungguda bayqalghan qush zukimi bilen
yuqumlanghan bimarlarni dokilat qilishtiki iniqliq derijisini tiximu
yuquri koturushke chaqirdi.

China confirms human bird flu case from 2003

Reuters Health

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China confirmed on Tuesday that the country's
first human case of the H5N1 bird flu virus in 2003 was two years
earlier than originally reported, prompting the UN's health agency
to call for greater transparency.

The case had spurred questions about whether there might have been
other human H5N1 infections in China prior to what had been its
first reported human case, near the end of 2005.

Eight Chinese researchers published a letter in The New England
Journal of Medicine in June saying a 24-year-old soldier, who was
admitted to hospital in November 2003 for respiratory distress and
pneumonia and later died, had been infected with H5N1.

His virus samples genetically resembled H5N1 viruses taken from
Chinese chickens in various provinces in 2004, the eight experts
said.

China's Health Ministry confirmed the case on Tuesday by "parallel
laboratory tests" carried out in cooperation with the UN's World
Health Organisation, Xinhua said.

"It speaks about the need for really close collaboration and
transparent communication between various players within the
government structure," said Roy Wadia, the WHO's spokesman in
Beijing.

"The Ministry of Health says it was not aware of the man's H5N1-
positive tests until the letter came out in the journal in June," he
added.

"As we've said all along, it has been conceivable that there have
been sporadic cases out here and in other countries that have not
been picked up. It's good that this case came to light, but the
question is how many cases might there be out there?"

Wadia said the health ministry had told them military scientists
first tested the man and found he was infected with the H5N1 virus
but did not tell the health department until much later.

China's health ministry said there was no cause for alarm.

"Although this human infection confirmed in the mainland was two
years earlier than previous figures, it has no indication that China
had an outbreak of bird flu in 2003," spokesman Mao Qun'an was
quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.

"People need not panic," he said. "The surveillance capability of
bird flu in the country is significantly strengthened nowadays in
comparison with two years ago."

BREWING

The scientists' findings were one of the clearest indications yet
that the virus might have been brewing for much longer in the vast
country than what had been reported.

Lo Wing-lok, an infectious disease expert in Hong Kong, said this
incident was a lesson and reminder for China to be honest,
transparent and more forthcoming with information.

Experts in Hong Kong have long insisted that the virus has always
been present in mainland China, but Chinese authorities have denied
that.

Even after several members of a Hong Kong family contracted the
virus in Fujian province in southern China in February 2003, the
incident was swept under the carpet.

"If it had been more forthcoming, so much more could have been done
for the rest of the world. But now, the virus has spread to three
continents," Lo said.

"It's a lesson to be learnt."

The H5N1 virus made its first known jump to humans in Hong Kong in
late 1997, and then more or less petered out until it re-emerged in
parts of Southeast Asia in late 2003, when it killed three people in
Vietnam.

The virus is known to have infected 19 people in China since last
year, killing 12 of them, according to WHO.

(Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong)

Reuters Health