'Grave' China Bird Flu Situation
Asian Countries Rule Out Human Cases; Regional Anxieties Grow
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Play CBS Video Video HealthWatch The top health stories include a new study about exercise, the U.S. plan of action against the bird flu, and determining who is at risk for certain diseases utilizing DNA. Melissa McDermott reports.
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Video Prepping For Bird Flu Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discussed the likelihood of the avian flu spreading and precautions that are being taken to prevent it.
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A Thai man tends his fighting cocks at his house on the outskirts of Bangkok, Oct. 28, 2005. Five Southeast Asian countries will discuss cooperation on combating the spread of bird flu. (AP)
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The Indonesian government says up to 1,000 veterinary students will go house-to-house next month to look for backyard chickens infected with bird flu. Here, Indonesians gather small chickens. (AP)
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Chickens in cages are sold at a wholesale market in Shanghai, China, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005. China has reported three bird flu cases this month in chickens, ducks and geese. (AP)
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A chicken pokes its head out of a cage as a man butchers chickens at a small market Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 in central Jakarta. (AP)
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A parrot performs at Shanghai Zoo Wednesday Oct. 26, 2005 in Shanghai, China. In Shanghai, China's biggest city, authorities last week began quarantining poultry. (AP)
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ia also warned that the huge numbers of wild birds migrating through China in coming weeks made it unrealistic to believe that the country could "absolutely eliminate" the virus.
The country has reported three outbreaks over the past two weeks that have killed hundreds of chickens and ducks, but the government says there have been no human infections.
"Prevention and control of bird outbreaks is of chief importance. If we fail to do that well, then sooner or later there will be transmission from birds to humans," Jia, the veterinary official, said at a news conference shown live on national television.
China's latest outbreak occurred in a village in the central province of Hunan where the 12-year-old girl died after developing a high fever.
Chen Xianyi, vice director of the Health Ministry's department of disease control, said tests showed she died of pneumonia.
"The test results were negative" for bird flu, Chen said.
Still, a WHO spokeswoman said the U.N. agency was waiting for official word from Beijing.
"We'd like to know what tests were conducted," said spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi.
In Bangkok, the Health Ministry reported that lab tests showed three French tourists who became ill after visiting Thailand were not carrying the virus.
Their cases caused alarm when initial tests on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion suggested they might be carrying the virus. But more testing in Paris found no virus, the ministry announced.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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