China's vast size and its developing disease reporting systems have made it "weak and vulnerable" against bird flu, a top Chinese official said yesterday, while Thailand reported two new suspected human cases of the deadly virus.
Some experts meeting in Rome on Asia's bird flu crisis recommended vaccinating healthy poultry as part of a broader strategy to control the disease, which has claimed 10 human lives in Vietnam and five in Thailand, as well as tens of millions of chickens in the region.
Health officials previously have said safely destroying infected birds is the best way to contain the disease. Mass slaughter and import bans have ravaged Asia's poultry industry -- some 50 million birds, mostly chickens, have been killed.
PHOTO: EPA
Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai ordered a nationwide ban on sales of all live chickens and poultry products, state media reported yesterday.
Officials said the order was to contain the disease's spread, without elaborating. It was not clear whether authorities feared people might catch the disease by eating infected chicken meat.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there are no indications so far that bird flu is spreading to people who eat properly cleaned and cooked poultry products. But countries worldwide, including the US on Wednesday, have slapped import bans on poultry from nations affected with bird flu.
Thailand has sought to restore confidence in its poultry industry with government giveaways of cooked chicken and eggs.
China yesterday urged caution when eating eggs but said there was no cause for serious alarm.
"There is a chance that in affected regions eggs may carry bird flu," said Jia Youling, a poultry expert with the agricultural ministry. "We suggest that when eating eggs, they be very well boiled."
No human cases have been reported in China, but by Wednesday, there were five confirmed outbreaks and 18 suspected ones in chickens, ducks and geese throughout the country, Vice Agriculture Minister Liu Jian said.
In a rare news conference, he vowed stringent measures to stop the virus before it spreads to people. Liu acknowledged that "some parts of our animal disease-prevention system are weak and vulnerable, and the public has limited knowledge about the disease and ways to prevent it."
"The poultry population in China is quite big, and production methods are quite diverse. That has brought us some difficulties in controlling this epidemic," he added.
The two new suspected cases in Thailand were a two-year-old boy from northeastern Khon Kaen province and a 67-year-old man from central Chainat province, Thai officials said. Thailand has 19 suspected cases in all, nine of whom have died.
Bird flu has now been found in 40 of Thailand's 76 provinces and authorities said yesterday that nearly 26 million chickens have been culled, making the mass slaughter all but complete in five of the provinces.
In neighboring Cambodia, the avian virus was found in two dead swans on a small farm near the capital Phnom Penh, the second time the disease has been detected near the city, the Agriculture Ministry said. The disease has not been found to have jumped to humans in Cambodia.
The WHO is working to develop a human vaccine against bird flu, but an animal vaccine against a closely related strain of the disease already exists. Some farmers have used it to protect against other forms of bird flu and experts believe it could give chickens partial protection from the deadly virus now afflicting Asia's farms.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS