The WHO experts investigating suspected cases of avian influenza
amongst three people in central China's Hunan Province said they
were satisfied with a report by the provincial health department
made to them and Ministry of Health officials on Monday afternoon.
"Everything is going well. What we heard about are all good
things, and we're satisfied with the preventative measures taken in
Hunan. But we still need to make further investigations." said one
of the WHO experts.
They were due to continue their investigations today and
tomorrow in the prefectures of Changsha and Xiangtan, where three
cases of "pneumonia of unknown cause" were diagnosed in October,
according to the provincial health department.
One 12-year-old girl died on October 17 and her 9-year-old
brother was discharged from hospital last Friday following 25 days
of treatment after they both ate meat from poultry that died during
an H5N1 bird flu outbreak. The boy is still in quarantine pending
the ministry and WHO's findings.
A 36-year-old school teacher is also still in hospital.
The WHO experts will visit Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital
where the sister and brother were treated, the village where the
epidemic broke out, and medical institutions in Xiangtan, according
to the department.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Mao Qun'an told China
Daily yesterday that tests are being conducted on a fourth
possible human case in the northeastern province of Liaoning, also
diagnosed as pneumonia.
A 36-year-old woman called Liu, who owns a small chicken farm, had
helped neighbors dispose of infected dead chickens a week before
developing a high fever and being hospitalized on November 6.
Liu Yanhua, science and technology vice minister in charge of
vaccine research and development, said in Beijing yesterday that a
possible human H5N1 vaccine developed by Chinese scientists is now
ready for clinical trials.
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Yin Weidong, the principal vaccine researcher, said lab tests
had found the vaccine to be safe and effective in mice. Samples
have been submitted to the State Food and Drug Administration for
clinical test approval, the first-phase of which would begin in
late November.
Human testing of an H5N1 vaccine in the US was announced in
August, and the largest UK drugs company GlaxoSmithKline said in
October its vaccine may be tested by the end of the year. The
development of a vaccine for another strain of the virus, H7N1, was
announced last month in Europe.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 15, 2005)
