CHINA: China's bird flu outlook is "not optimistic", and human cases may increase if there are more poultry outbreaks, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, the day after the country's eighth human case was announced.
China reported more than 30 outbreaks of the virus in birds last year, and three people are confirmed to have died of it in the last three months.
In the latest human case, a six-year-old boy from the central province of Hunan was taken ill in December and is now in hospital.
"Measures to prevent and control the epidemic must be strengthened, as the danger of bird flu exists not only in China but also threatens other countries," Xinhua said, citing health department spokesman Mao Qun'an.
China is investigating the cause of infection in its latest human case, Xinhua said, adding that birds raised by the boy's family had died before he began showing flu-like symptoms.
"No abnormal clinic symptoms have been detected in the patients. Nor are there human-to-human cases," Mr Mao was quoted as saying.
China has suffered numerous outbreaks in poultry since October, and Beijing has launched sweeping measures to stop the virus spreading and infecting more people, including a campaign to vaccinate all domestic poultry.
Officials say the preponderance of small family farms, a lack of well-trained local officials and the world's biggest poultry population will make it hard to contain the disease in China.
The agriculture ministry has warned that the risk of the virus spreading could be higher during the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls at the end of January, as meat consumption and the transport of live poultry increase.
China's poultry industry, which state media say lost 60 billion yuan ($7.44 billion) alone in the fourth quarter of 2005, is gearing up for more losses, according to one senior official.
"Prices of chicks have fallen 80 per cent, and the price of chicken in the markets is down 20 per cent," Deng Fujiang, vice-chairman of the China Meat Association said.