The source of H7N9 virus is not known
BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China has reported new cases of a strain of bird flu that was previously unknown in humans but has already killed five people.
The announcement raises the total of known cases to 14.
The World Health Organization said there was no evidence that the H7N9 strain could be transmitted between people, but that it was investigating the outbreak.
The new patients in China’s eastern Jiangsu province were all in critical condition and receiving emergency treatment, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Jiangsu provincial health bureau.
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A woman in Anghui province who caught the virus in early March is also in critical condition.
No mutual infection was discovered in any of the cases, Xinhua said. A group of 255 people identified by authorities to have had close contact with the H7N9 victims have also not shown any flu symptoms, it said.
The WHO said the cases had shown no evidence of human-to-human transmission, but there were questions to answer about the source of the infection and the mode of transmission.
In Hong Kong, authorities activated the preliminary “Alert Response Level” under a preparedness plan for an influenza pandemic, which calls for close monitoring of chicken farms, vaccination, culling drills, and a suspension of imports of live birds from the mainland.
All passengers on flights in and out of Hong Kong were being asked to notify flight attendants or airport staff if they were feeling unwell.
Vietnam said it had banned poultry imports from China, citing the risk from H7N9.
In Beijing, the Health Ministry said the government would swiftly communicate details of the new strain to the outside world and its own people, following complaints it had been too slow to report on the outbreak and suspicion of a cover-up.
Chinese internet users and some newspapers have questioned why it took so long for the government to announce the new cases, especially as two of the victims fell ill in February. The government has said it needed time to correctly identify the virus.
China has a poor record when it comes to dealing with bad news. It is often covered up by officials fearing it may attract unwanted attention from superiors and damage promotion prospects, despite government efforts to enhance transparency.
In 2003, Beijing initially tried to cover up an epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which emerged in China and killed about a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.
Some Chinese have complained that authorities took too long before announcing the most recent deaths, though the WHO says the government acted properly.
Wu Fan, chief doctor and director general of the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control, said the government had acted as quickly as it possibly could.
“In this situation, to take 20 days to identify and confirm a new virus is already considered short,” she said.
“We cannot say for certain or confirm if it was a case of a human catching an avian virus or an avian virus changing and becoming a new human flu virus.”
Ian Jones, a professor of virology at Britain’s University of Reading, said there was no cause for alarm.
“At the moment I don’t think it’s anything more than an unusual set of isolated cases,” he said.
Experts consider three types of avian influenza — H5, H7 and H9 —to be a potential threat to humans. Jones said authorities should be watchful but need not enact emergency measures because there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission or of clusters of cases around the few that have been confirmed.
“Of course we need to take account of these cases and follow up the contacts and so on, but I think that’s where it rests at the moment,” Jones said.
“It’s far too soon to assume this is the start of something.”
