China has denied covering up human bird flu cases after a US-based newspaper said local officials may be hiding suspected infections from the central government and that the country's death toll could be higher than the 12 reported.
"We must clarify that China has not been concealing any confirmed or suspected human cases of bird flu since the first case occurred in November of last year," Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun'an (
It was a rare official response to reports by foreign media.
The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, said on Thursday that local Chinese health officials "have failed to report possible human cases of bird flu to the central government," raising concerns that more people than reported may have contracted the disease.
China has reported 18 cases including 12 deaths.
The Journal did not give any more details but cited the source as saying that the central government was "quite upset from receiving information late from local officials."
Mao said every human case of bird flu in China has been announced as soon as it is confirmed. But, he acknowledged that most local hospitals were slow in reporting confirmed bird flu patients to Beijing.
"Therefore, we must first raise their awareness. That is a priority," he said.
China has been criticized for being slow and unwilling to release information about disease outbreaks, although it has been more open and aggressive since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002. SARS eventually killed 774 people worldwide.
Earlier this week, the health ministry issued a notice on its Web site criticizing some local health authorities for being too slow to report suspicious pneumonia cases -- potentially people infected with the H5N1 virus. It also said that some patients were moved to other hospitals without guidance, "risking the spread of infectious diseases."
The statement didn't speculate on the reasons behind such actions, although local authorities in China often avoid reporting incidents that could draw official attention and possible criticism or censure.
Experts fear that the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily passed between humans and spark a pandemic. According to WHO figures, 113 people have died worldwide from avian flu, mostly from handling sick or infected poultry.
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