- BEIJING (AP) -- China denied
assertions Monday that a deadly strain of bird flu that killed 27 people
in Asia has been discovered in the country's pigs, as the World Health
Organization warned the disease will take several years to contain.
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- A new outbreak of the virulent H5N1 strain of avian influenza
in Malaysia and flare-ups in Thailand and Vietnam indicate that the disease
may be entrenched in parts of Asia.
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- In addition, researchers in northeastern China said last
week that they had found H5N1 in pigs ñ intensifying fears that
the virus could mutate into a version that could lead to human-to-human
infections.
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- China's Agricultural Ministry, however, said on its website
Monday that the government has tested 1.1 million pigs and poultry and
that the results ìshow that we do not have the H5N1 bird flu virus
in pigs.î
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- Neither the Chinese lab nor the ministry explained what
kind of tests were carried out on the pigs, which are genetically similar
to humans.
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- Earlier this year, nasal swabs from pigs in Vietnam tested
positive for bird flu, but more-conclusive blood tests later showed they
were not infected.
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- The ministry said it had informed the WHO of the results.
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- The WHO office in Beijing had no immediate comment, but
Shigeru Omi, the UN agency's director for the Western Pacific, said earlier
Monday that the Chinese researchers' statements need to be examined carefully.
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- Mr. Omi told reporters in Penang, Malaysia, that the
disease will keep popping up because it ìis circulating more widely
than we expected among poultry.î
-
- Containing it will take ìseveral years, at least,î
said Mr. Omi, who was attending an anti-tobacco meeting overshadowed by
bird flu.
-
- He also urged the creation of a communicable-diseases
surveillance system in Asia to respond quickly to diseases ñ such
as SARS or H5N1 ñ that originate with animals.
-
- Meanwhile, Malaysian Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said
that a doctor and her three children had tested negative for avian flu.
Three other patients with flu symptoms were discharged Sunday after they
showed no sign of avian flu, Mr. Chua said.
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- "I must emphasize that until now that only chickens
have avian flu, no humans are infected," he said.
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- Bird flu ravaged poultry flocks throughout Asia earlier
this year and killed 27 people in Vietnam and Thailand. More than 100 million
birds across 10 Asian countries died of the disease or were slaughtered.
-
- In February, 17 million birds in the Fraser Valley in
British Columbia were slaughtered in efforts to stamp out the disease.
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