Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2013/04/new-flu
A pork butcher in the People's Republic of China was killed by an avian flu not previously seen in humans called H7N9. Previously only transmitted to birds, scientists confirmed that the flu can now jump from birds to mammals. The WHO said that there is still no evidence of human-to-human transmissions as all of the human's family members are not infected.
The article discusses in optimism how management in China is dealing with the H7N9 much better than it did with the SARS pandemic. Now, over a million in China now talk about it rather it being kept top secret. When the SARS pandemic occurred, it was not handled well which led to its spread to other regions as East Asia, the rest of Asia, and even the Western world.
4 comments:
I think it is great that China and the WHO are working to spread information about this virus. Making people aware is one of the best ways to prevent an epidemic from occurring. Now I think the main problem will be getting medicine to people who have the virus and to provide vaccines to prevent others from getting it.
I agree with Brenda. My parents watch Asian news channels back home, so I personally remember when SARs was all over the news. Unfortunately, many people passed away and China was under a lot of scrutiny on how they dealt with it. I remember calling relatives to make sure they were okay and if we could help in any way. So I agree that China's partnering with the WHO will be beneficial in keeping this strand of avian flu contained.
Personally, I also remember coming back to school from the summer, and school officials began quarantine and many of the students did not return temporarily, particularly the ones that visited China or nearby regions. Fortunately, I haven't heard of any h7n9 incidents outside of China and hopefully their officials will do a good job of containing the virus.
It is necessary for other countries that importing food from China to keep an eye on the H7N9 flu. It also proves the fact that the medicines which once cured H5N1 or SARS might not be effective in this case, and new types of flu will resist these medicines. This flu will disrupt Chinese economy in sectors such as tourism and food industry.
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