Besides a clear plan to deal with bird flu, a leading epidemic expert 　　warns the biggest challenge is raising public awareness
　　
　　
　　MEDIA FOCUS: Epidemic control expert Zhong Nanshan is crowded by reporters who are covering the annual parliament event
　　
　　Premier Wen Jiabao said in his government work report, presented March 5 at the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, that the country is attaching great attention to the prevention and control of highly pathogenic avian influenza and human infection by the virus.
　　It wasn’t the first time that top state leaders had made a public commitment to control a possible pandemic since the country confirmed its first human case of bird flu last fall. The latest confirmed human death was a 9-year-old girl in east China’s Zhejiang Province, reported March 7, not long after a 32-year-old man in Guangdong Province died March 2, bringing the country’s death toll from H5N1 to 10.
　　Zhong Nanshan, a leading expert in epidemic control who was one of the first doctors to encounter the SARS outbreak in 2003, attributed the death of the Guangdong man, surnamed Lao, to insufficient attention paid to the early symptom of a high fever. Zhong is also a member of the World Health Organization Expert Advisory Panel.
　　“He showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia beginning February 22, was hospitalized four days later on February 26 and died March 2. So, actually, his early symptom of a high fever was not given enough attention,” Zhong told Beijing Review. “If everyone attaches more importance to high fevers and other symptoms of inflammation, and seeks treatment as soon as possible, the death rate of the bird flu will be reduced.”
　　Zhong said public awareness is crucial in the fight against bird flu, aimed at preventing the worst-case scenario imagined by health experts: human-to-human transmission of the virus, resulting in a global pandemic.
　　“The top priority at present is to publicize the information across China and establish a sound information sharing system,” Zhong emphasized. He expressed concern that people in rural areas still have a weak awareness of how to detect bird flu and identify suspicious cases of pneumonia. Meanwhile, he called on urban dwellers to avoid contact with live poultry and wild fowl.
　　China is an important battleground for fighting bird flu as it has a wide diversity of bird species and a huge population of domestically raised chickens and ducks. “Migratory birds fly back north through eight routes in the world, three of which run through China,” Zhong said. These routes cover a wide range of the country, in the eastern, southeastern and central parts, with some passing through the Qinghaihu Lake in the northwest.
　　Zhong spoke positively of the government’s current efforts in managing the bird flu threat. He said that while most foreign countries are trying to tackle the problem from the perspective of birds, China is putting more emphasis on human health, which he believes is a positive and proactive measure for the country.
　　
　　
　　CLOSE CALL: A recovered six-year-old bird flu patient is released from hospital after over one month of treatment in Hunan Province
　　
　　“China has now established 185 post hospitals throughout the country, strengthening the surveillance of pneumonia cases with unknown causes,” Zhong said, adding that in a number of cities, separate outpatient services for fever have been launched.
　　He said China is keeping alert to the situation of H5N1 among live poultry and wild fowl, and noted that since single cases of bird flu have been found in mammals such as the cat and marten in other countries, surveillance should be further intensified to deal with possible variations of the virus.
　　Zhong said he thinks the bird flu epidemic will definitely expand to more areas of the world this year. However, he added that doesn’t necessarily mean more human cases will occur, and said the majority of humans will not contract the fatal virus.
　　The expert also gave credit to Chinese health authorities for early efforts of culling all domesticated birds within a 3-km radius of a bird flu case and vaccinating the remaining birds within a 5-km vicinity. “We should say that this has played a certain active role [in controlling bird flu spread],” he said.
　　The government has been quite fully prepared for bird flu, but the key issue is to thoroughly carry out relevant regulations and decisions, according to Zhong. “Now we are not totally unprepared like we were during the SARS epidemic. We’ve made full preparations,” he said with confidence.
　　Zhong continued that as long as China’s epidemic control guidelines are effective--that is, timely reporting outbreaks, receiving timely diagnosis, taking timely quarantine measures and delivering timely treatment--the bird flu will not easily develop into a pandemic.

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