Both victims of a recent bird flu infection remained in critical
condition yesterday as local authorities launched campaigns telling
villagers to stay away from sick and dead fowl.
According to the doctor in charge, the 26-year-old woman farmer
in east China's
Anhui Province has lost one of her unborn twins.
"We don't know for sure if the H5N1 infection caused the death
in the two-months-pregnant woman," a doctor who identified himself
only with the surname Li told China Daily in a telephone
interview.
The woman remained in the No 2 People's Hospital in Fuyang. The
medical team treating her is required to file a daily report to the
Ministry of Health, but the report has not been made public.
In Yingshang County, the woman's home, authorities were busy
yesterday spreading bird flu knowledge among rural residents in
about 30 villages.
"We have used television, banners and leaflets to urge villagers
to stay away from sick birds, report suspicious cases and handle
the dead chickens in a sanitary way," Sun Wei, an official with the
county government, said yesterday by telephone.
"We have dispatched 15 inspection teams to the villages to
ensure a new round of inoculations on new-born chickens."
The government has required that farmers keep their fowl indoors
and has put stricter restrictions on fowl market, reducing the
possibility of chickens' being infected by migratory birds.
In east China's
Zhejiang Province, authorities have been monitoring constantly
to prevent a possible outbreak in the province where a human
infection was reported on Saturday.
A 9-year-old girl, surnamed You, in Dakeng Village of Anji
County was reported as still in critical condition yesterday. The
girl was confirmed on Saturday to have been infected with the H5N1
virus.
(China Daily February 28, 2006)