Health experts in
Taipei said yesterday that the H7N9 bird flu epidemic might have spread widely,
judging from the recent confirmed H7N9 cases from different areas in China.
H7N9, a sub-type that had not previously been
transmitted to humans, has killed two people in Shanghai and left a third in a
critical condition in the eastern province of Anhui, according to a Chinese
government announcement on March 31.
Su Ih-jen of
the National Health Research Institutes said that the current H7N9 bird flu
epidemic is not normal, as the virus has appeared in two different areas at the
same time.
“There is no connection between all the reported cases
of H7N9 bird flu,” Su said, “which might suggest that the epidemic has spread
to many different areas.
“Because the symptoms connected to the first stage of
H7N9 are not obvious, it might be hard to prevent the epidemic from spreading
to Taiwan,” said Su.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy
Director-General Chou Chih-hau said health inspection of travelers entering and
leaving the country at airports and ports has been enhanced.
“Travelers who have touched birds in China, Hong Kong
and Macau and suffer from fever after returning from those areas within 10 days
will be sent to hospital for further examinations until it is confirmed that
they do not have H7N9 bird flu,” said Chou.
Dr. Huang Li-min, chief physician at the National
Taiwan University Hospital Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, said
that judging from the known H7N9 cases, the epidemic has spread to more than
one area.
According to the AFP, the World Health Organization
(WHO) said in an email statement that there was no evidence of human-to-human
transmission in the three reported cases, and that the WHO will continue to
monitor the situation.
Publicly-funded
Tamiflu to be available until April
Chang Feng-yih, director-general of the CDC, said
yesterday that in response to the H7N9 bird flu epidemic, the CDC decided to
extend the end date for publicly funded Tamiflu shots to the end of April.
“Even though people do not need to worry too much
about the H7N9 bird flu for now,” Chang said, “everyone still has to be careful
when being in touch with all kinds of animals, especially birds.”
According to Chang, current stocks of Tamiflu is
enough for about 15 per cent of the population in Taiwan, so people do not need
to worry about running out of Tamiflu stock.
Joy Lee
The China Post
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