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China Responding to Bird Flu Outbreaks
USAgNet - 05/06/2013
China deserves credit for its rapid response to the outbreaks of H7N9 avian influenza, and its early openness in the reporting and sharing of data, a prestigious scientific journal has said.
"Today, some commentators view its reaction to H7N9 with mistrust. But from all the evidence so far... China' s response to the virus is next to exemplary," London-based Nature said in an editorial in its online edition.
China reported the H7N9 outbreak to the World Health Organization on March 31, just six weeks after the first known person fell ill. It has also shared all the sequences with the WHO, and live virus with the WHO and other laboratories, the editorial said.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping added political clout... when he called for an effective response, and said that the government must ensure the release of accurate information about the outbreaks," the editorial noted.
China has distributed diagnostic tests to hospitals and research labs across the country. The response, spearheaded by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, has united clinicians, virologists, and epidemiologists. Live-bird markets at which H7N9 has been found have been shut down,
and birds culled, it said.
Some critics have questioned the time between the first person falling ill on 19 February and China's first announcement about the virus, and have asked whether the announcement was deliberately delayed.
The editorial said it is crucial for China to continue its openness over the H7N9 outbreaks.
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