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Influenza World brings you the latest news and updates in the flu field from around the world.

 
China needs better bird flu surveillance -experts
18 February 2009

BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs to improve its surveillance of the bird flu virus after a recent rise in human cases, but there are no signs the country is on the verge of an epidemic, U.N. experts said on Wednesday.

China reported eight human cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in January, five of whom died, which appeared independent of any known case in birds.

Hans Treason, the World Health Organisation's China representative, said their risk assessment had not changed following the new cases as it was normal during the winter months.

"Why we don't expect this is the beginning of an epidemic is these cases are geographically distributed and there are no links between them," he told the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

"All of them have been exposed either to sick or dead poultry or wet markets. There is plausible explanation for how it can be transmitted. There's no indication of human to human transmission."

One problem is the lack of reports of bird outbreaks.

"What it tells us is we still have a very serious situation in the agriculture sector," he said. "The virus is well-entrenched and circulating in the environment.

"It is of great concern for us. It's something we are raising, both the WHO and FAO, with the government," Troedsson added, referring to the Food and Agricultural Organisation.

With the world's biggest poultry population and hundreds of millions of backyard birds, China is seen as critical in the fight to contain bird flu.

Vincent Martin, the FAO's senior technical adviser in Beijing, said China needed better sampling.

"They are taking millions of samples every year to try to check the status of the poultry population in terms of avian influenza viruses," Martin said. "It's a huge task and it's really a huge challenge for them.

"Although they are doing a lot of surveillance, definitely more can be done. They can increase surveillance, not only increase in terms of taking more samples, but doing it at the right place, doing it where you think you can get the virus."

The H5N1 flu remains largely a virus among birds, but experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted among humans and spark a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has killed 254 people out of 406 infected in 15 countries - Myanmar, Bangladesh, Turkey, Djibouti, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Nigeria, Laos and Cambodia.

  • "I would describe flu as something that makes you feel very, very ill. You get a headache, aching bones, and are generally fed up"
  • "When I get flu symptoms I feel like a train has run over me"
  • "I felt very sick and, during the first week, I had high temperature. Flu was very different to a cold. I went back to work after two and a half weeks. Then I suffered a setback for another week"
  • "I run a guesthouse; flu would be a real pest for me. I couldn’t cook, I shouldn’t cook, and I wouldn’t cook, so I would need to get a lot of extra help in. It would cost me a lot more money. So flu’s a real problem, a right downturn"
  • "I work on my own and when I can’t work, I have to try not to infect my little children, so they avoid getting the flu as well"
  • "I feel a little numb, like I’m in another dimension. Because in general I have sore throat, headache, I feel all clogged-up. Usually a sensation like I’m floating in the air"
  • "Shivers, sweats, makes you ache. Last time I had flu I was off for two weeks"
  • "I think that I would probably be concerned that I would pass flu onto my children, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I would"
  • "Flu makes you feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. You don’t feel like you can get yourself out of bed as all your energy is drawn from you"
  • "I was incapable of working. It just wasn’t possible at all… and my flu dragged on for more than a week"
  • "I have no strength. It annoys me because I can do nothing, it seems like I’m wasting my time"
  • "Flu’s like being hit by a truck because you feel completely gone. There is no energy left in your body. You are suffering from high temperature. You’re sweating a lot and you feel really unwell"
  • "First of all infinite tiredness, then I feel like sleeping and don’t want to eat"
  • "I felt really miserable because my muscles and my bones were aching. Well, I can hardly describe it, I just felt really awful, absolutely miserable"
  • "It’s like there’s something huge treading on your head, like a deafening noise that destroys the eardrums"
  • "The fever was constantly rising – I immediately measured my temperature as soon as I got home. It was 41°C and it kept rising and I was wondering what’s going on. I was really scared! Everything was hurting and it all happened so fast. Flu came out of the blue"
  • "I always feel like my limbs have iron weights tied to them and I’m going to fall over any minute, a really stuffy runny nose and feel antisocial"
  • "I was totally dependent on others! I was incapable of doing anything at all"
  • "The real flu knocks you for six – you just don’t want to move or do anything. It’s not very nice"
  • "Not being able to go to work. Not being able to do the things I have to do at home and the commitments that I have day by day"