Huzhou (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Zhejiang farmer died this morning in Huzhou after having contracted bird flu from the H7N9 virus. He is the sixth human victim in China, where the alert level continues to rise in spite of the authorities' attempt to keep concern over the new epidemic low.
The death was confirmed by local
health officials. The victim is
the second person to die in Zhejiang,
where 13 other patients seem to have been infected with the flu strain
that has "mutated" from the H5N1
virus of avian influenza that in recent
years created panic across Asia.
The World Health Organization, for the moment, is keeping the epidemic
alert low: according to international
officials "there is no evidence" that the new version of bird flu can be transmitted from human to human,
and this factor makes an increase in cases of infection "unlikely".
For its part Beijing is keeping its tones even lower. Ministry of Health and the hospital officials "have no comment to make" on the matter, but on the Internet the population thinks differently.
On Weibo a post
reads: "They know everything but don't
want to tell us."
The only immediate reaction is to slaughter poultry. In Shanghai,
where the first cases and 4 deaths from the H7N9
occured, the authorities ordered the
decimation of poultry in the Huhuai
market, in the western part of
the city, where the virus had been found in a pigeon
for sale.