Chinese Race To Save Girl With Bird Flu

(AP)  A 2-year-old girl in northern China has tested positive for bird flu and is in critical condition - the second case of human infection in a month.

The girl fell ill on Jan. 7 in central Hunan province and was taken to a hospital by her grandparents four days later after she returned home to Shanxi province, the Health Ministry said in a notice on its Web site late Saturday.

Tests confirmed she was infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, it said. It did not say how the girl, surnamed Peng, was infected or what she was doing in Hunan.

"The patient is in critical condition, and the health department of Shanxi province is sparing no efforts" to save the girl, the notice said.

All the people who had close contact with the girl were under medical observation, the ministry said, and no one else has been found ill.

The case comes at a worrisome time for authorities as tens of millions of people are on the move between cities and rural hometowns for Chinese New Year, which begins on Jan. 26. The Agricultural Ministry has said it will step up checks before the holiday.

China, which raises more poultry than any other country, has vowed to aggressively fight the virus.

A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization in Beijing said it was informed of the case and was staying in close contact with the Health Ministry.

Earlier this month a 19-year-old woman died from the bird flu virus in a Beijing hospital after contact with ducks in a market in a neighboring province, the first death from bird flu since February last year. The WHO said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.

Health officials worry the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that could spread easily among people.

According to the latest WHO tally, bird flu has killed 248 people worldwide since 2003, including 21 in China. The young girl brings the total number of cases in the country to 32.

[wl7bzh]

Don''''t look at China with red-white-blue American eyes and only see the bad and wrong. Our problems are just as bad.

Posted by docpeter1953 at 03:37 PM : Jan 20, 2009

Doc, I am impressed you are a rarity in this country-a happily married man.

[wl7bzh]

I recall the horror stories a few years ago about how a bird flu pandemic was going to wipe out human civilization. Guess that didn''''''''t really work out, did it?

Posted by rf35 at 10:34 AM : Jan 21, 2009

I wonder what would happen if bird flu broke out in a population with a high incidence of AIDs? You know-the disease with the low immune system?

[erasmus606]

I recall the horror stories a few years ago about how a bird flu pandemic was going to wipe out human civilization. Guess that didn''''t really work out, did it?

Posted by rf35 at 10:34 AM : Jan 21, 2009

Just give it time. If it isn''t this, it will be something else. It''s just luck that it hasn''t happened already.

It''s just going to take a really stupid mistake on the part of a stupid country. Like if the country keeps it hushed up. The rest of the world is watching and usually steps in to help, that''s probably the only reason so far, that it has been contained.

[rf35]

The girl got bird flu as God''s punishment for her sins...no, wait, that''s mrs_zambesi.

I recall the horror stories a few years ago about how a bird flu pandemic was going to wipe out human civilization. Guess that didn''t really work out, did it? The Chinese are doing this as a PR bit. If she were older or not cute or something, they would have quietly let her die.

[runningralph]

Since China quit communism they have risen to unprecedented heights. Conditions for the masses are not up to Western standards but are far better than at any time in the past. The main health threat is the huge population that creates environmental challenges. I predict that China will become richer and stronger mainly because they have put a limit on population growth.

[docpeter1953]

Doc, no disrespect meant to the little woman, but if you are indeed married to a Chinese National, then you are aware of how much heartburn the Chinese principle of "not losing face" can bring a person. ;)

Posted by wl7bzh at 09:12 AM : Jan 20, 2009
____________________

Not exactly sure what ''not losiong face'' means. Maybe you are still confused about the chinese People. Be sure not to confuse Govt. with individual citizens.

I do know that to the Chinese there is an unwritten rule of ''respect'' for others and their property, that really is missing here in the USA.

In regard to ''In a country, where they routinely use Mercury and Lead and other toxins in toys and other products that they sell --and routinely sell tainted baby milk and kill infants, and then make an example out of a toy executive by shooting him...'' you seem to throw out the baby with the bath water. Think about things like automotive recalls that wait until many are killed before correcting the problem because it cost less to settle the claims, Think about the drugs -Fen Phen, Vioxx- big pharma passes along to us without admitting to the harm they cause. And we write it off as ''doing business''. Consider the lack of regulation in the food supply taht routinely brings us Salmanella and E. coli in our commercially available food(s).

Don''t look at China with red-white-blue American eyes and only see the bad and wrong. Our problems are just as bad.

[pugster]

I bet we have a better food safety record. Contaminated peanut butter products that killed 6 people and have sickened hundreds.

[combatvet_ny]

To:harbinger09
First, before you start counting yourself in among the men and women who serve in the armed forces in places like Iraq, sign up and get deployed.
Second, what does Iraq have anything to do with China trying to help one of it''s own.

[nincomp]

In a country, where they routinely use Mercury and Lead and other toxins in toys and other products that they sell --and routinely sell tainted baby milk and kill infants, and then make an example out of a toy executive by shooting him
Posted by harbinger09 at 11:34 PM : Jan 18, 2009
__________________

Coming from a citizen of US that dropped nuclear bombs on Japan, Uranium tipped bombs on Iraq and whose phosphorus explosives have been dropped on Gaza, you know that hypocrisy knows no bound

[wl7bzh]

You know what, before you make any comment you really should check out what you are saying. I am married to a Chinese National woman with a Chinese daughter, here in America. And what you are saying is garbage and old propaganda.

Posted by docpeter1953 at 08:02 AM : Jan 20, 2009

Doc, no disrespect meant to the little woman, but if you are indeed married to a Chinese National, then you are aware of how much heartburn the Chinese principle of "not losing face" can bring a person. ;)