What could be the mystery that no poultry contact in some China "bird flu" cases?

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GENEVA/BEIJING (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that a number of people who have tested positive for a new strain of bird flu in China have had no history of contact with poultry, adding to the mystery about the virus that has killed 16 people to date.

Chinese authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed some live poultry markets to try and stem the rate of human infection, but many questions remain unsolved including whether the H7N9 strain is being transmitted between people.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl confirmed that "there are people who have no history of contact with poultry", after a top Chinese scientist was quoted as saying about 40 percent of those with the H7N9 flu had had no poultry contact.

"This is one of the puzzles still (to) be solved and therefore argues for a wide investigation net," Hartl said in emailed comments, though he did not know the exact percentage.

Several avenues should be explored by an international team of experts going to China soon, including the possibility that the virus can be spread between people, although there is "no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission", Hartl said.

"It might be because of dust at the wet markets, it could be another animal source beside poultry, it could also be human-to-human transmission," he added by telephone.

Wendy Barclay, a flu expert at Imperial College London, said it was likely to be very difficult to determine and rule out people's exact exposure to poultry - and to wild birds, which could also be a possible source of infection.

"The incubation time might be quite long so visiting a market even 14 days before might have resulted in infection," she said.

Previously the WHO reported two suspected family "clusters", but later said the virus was found not to have infected anyone in the first. Tests in the second were inconclusive and experts say the poor quality samples may make it impossible to know.

China has warned that the number of infections could rise from the current 77. The latest victims are from the commercial capital of Shanghai, where the majority of the cases have been found, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

"A MYSTERY"

China reported three new bird flu outbreaks to the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) this week, bringing the total number of places to 11, the OIE said on its website.

Samples have tested positive in some poultry markets that remain the focus of investigation by China and the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Zeng Guang, the chief scientist in charge of epidemiology at the China Disease Prevention and Control Centre (CDPCC), said about 40 percent of human victims had no clear history of poultry exposure, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

According to a Reuters analysis of the infections, based on state media reports, only 10 of the 77 cases as of Tuesday have had contact with poultry. The CDPCC declined to comment when asked by Reuters.

A study published last week showed the H7N9 strain was a so-called "triple reassortant" virus with a mixture of genes from three other flu strains found in birds in Asia. One of those three strains is thought to have come from a brambling, a type of small wild bird.

"We can't rule out that this ... has passed through poultry but then been reintroduced to a wild bird population from which some spread to humans might be occurring," Barclay said.

China's poultry sector has recorded losses of more than 10 billion yuan since reports emerged of the strain two weeks ago, while authorities have slaughtered thousands of birds and closed live poultry markets in Shanghai and Beijing.

China said on Sunday the virus had spread outside the Yangtze River delta region in eastern China, with cases reported in Beijing and the central province of Henan.
Where's JJJoke's as answer as below? CCP shoe-polishers are weirdos, some display ignorance spontaneously eg hiv514, some pretend knowledgeable like kindergartens eg JJJoke, lol.

"All types of influenza virus thermally degrade and are consequently deactivate..."

Jungle Jim - 3134 Total answers

Answer
I'll go with "We can't rule out that this ... has passed through poultry but then been reintroduced to a wild bird population from which some spread to humans might be occurring."

Many cases are being attributed to "contact with chickens"; thus providing a ready and familiar scapegoat. However, it might be informative to ask if these cases might have in any way also been in contact with wild bird species.

Doesn't China bird-flu outbreak heighten food-safety fears?

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By Bill Savadove | AFP News,

China's bird-flu outbreak is "devastating" poultry sales, an industry group said, as the H7N9 virus which has killed seven people triggered a new food-safety scare.

Since China announced over a week ago that H7N9 avian influenza had been found in humans for the first time, the number of people infected has risen to 24, almost half in the eastern city of Shanghai.

Chinese authorities say they do not know how the virus is spreading, though it is believed the infection is passing from birds to humans.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no evidence H7N9 is passing from person to person -- a development that has the potential to trigger a pandemic.

Authorities have advised the public to avoid live birds but offered reassurances that poultry and eggs that are still on sale are safe to eat if cooked properly.

However, state media said that poultry sales have plunged in some areas of China, even regions that have so far recorded no human infections.

"It's really a devastating blow to the market for broilers," said Qiu Baoqin, vice secretary general of China's National Poultry Industry Association. Broilers are young chickens sold ready for cooking.

"The impact is extremely big," she said.

In the northern city of Shijiazhuang, daily chicken sales have tumbled more than 50 percent from a week earlier at the city's largest agricultural market, the state-backed China News Service reported.

Shanghai has culled more than 111,000 birds, banned trading in live poultry and shut markets in a bid to curb the outbreak.

Nanjing and Suzhou cities followed suit by banning live poultry trading, while Hangzhou culled poultry after discovering infected quail.

Domestic airlines, including budget carrier Spring and Xiamen Airlines, have yanked chicken from the menu after complaints from passengers, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.

China has been hit by a series of food scandals in recent years, some caused by producers deliberately using sub-standard or illegal ingredients, making the public wary over what they consume.

The country was rocked by one of its biggest-ever food safety scandals in 2008, when the industrial chemical melamine was found to have been illegally added to dairy products, killing at least six and making 300,000 ill.

A decade ago, China also faced accusations it covered up the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people globally.

"The authorities seem to have learned the necessary lessons from the SARS outbreak," the China Daily newspaper said in an editorial on Tuesday.

As China battled the new strain, neighbouring Vietnam on Tuesday reported its first death in more than a year from the better known H5N1 bird flu strain. The latest victim was a four-year-old child from a farming family.

Last week Hanoi banned all Chinese poultry imports and stepped up border controls, including passenger temperature checks, in response to the new H7N9 strain in China.

Analysts said the bird flu outbreak could hurt China's overall economy -- the world's second-largest -- though the effect was expected to be temporary.

Answer
Yes it does, a few countries around China have blocked poultry imports and customers have switch from buying in bird markets to buying in supermarkets of of fears.

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