The WHO said yesterday that it will send experts to the central
province of Hunan this week to investigate three possible cases of
human avian influenza infection there, and that more information
would be released to the media after meetings with Chinese
authorities.
"I think both the Ministry of Health and WHO prefer that the
investigation be carried out and then a press conference held to
discuss the outcome," said Roy Wadia, the organization's China
office spokesperson. "In any case, the meetings in Hunan will be
mainly behind closed doors."
Xinhua News Agency today quoted Wang Yu, director of the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying that inviting WHO
experts aimed at ensuring more transparent, timely communication
and technical cooperation with the international body.
The WHO experts, currently in Beijing, have begun providing
technical support to the laboratory side of the investigation,
according to Wadia.
The human cases in Hunan, one of which was fatal, were diagnosed
as "pneumonia of an unknown cause" but the possibility of infection
from the H5N1 strain of bird flu has not been ruled out as all
three had close contact with dead poultry.
The Hunan outbreak was one of eight confirmed in China since
October 19. Four others were in the northeastern province of
Liaoning, and one each in east China's Anhui Province, central
China's Hubei Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
A panel of seven experts from the provincial veterinary and
disease control departments said yesterday that the quarantine of
the affected area of Hunan should be lifted since it has been more
than 14 days since poultry were vaccinated and no new cases have
been reported for 21 consecutive days, in line with Ministry of
Agriculture criteria.
(Xinhua News Agency November 14, 2005)