CHINA> National
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CHINA> National
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Another mainland case suspected
By Wang Zhuoqiong in Beijing and Liang Qiwen in Guangzhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-19 08:33 A Chinese man who recently traveled through the US and Canada could become the mainland's fourth confirmed victim of A(H1N1) flu.
Yang developed a sore throat, blocked nose, and began coughing on Thursday. The next day, Yang caught the T810 train service to Guangzhou at 4:35 pm and sat in carriage No 7. His temperature was normal when he boarded the train, but he developed a fever midway through the journey. Yang was admitted to the No. 8 People's Hospital of Guangzhou that afternoon. The Guangdong provincial health department said Yang was suspected of having contracted the virus, but that it is waiting on confirmation from test results. If the diagnosis were confirmed, he would become the fourth known case of the flu on the Chinese mainland. The other three cases are in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Jinan, Shandong province, and Beijing. The Guangdong health department said it had been in contact with 65 of the 94 train passengers in close proximity with Yang. The Hong Kong department of health said it would reinforce inspection and quarantine measures at mainland checkpoints. Meanwhile, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Monday ruled that all inbound travelers declare their itinerary for seven days after arriving in China. The number of flu-like symptoms that travelers have to declare has grown from 8 to 11. In addition, China has isolated the virus strain from its first confirmed case in Sichuan. Li Dexin, director of the institute for viral disease control and prevention of the China CDC, said it is highly similar to the flu strain in the US and Mexico, and it had shown no signs of mutation. Dr Hans Troedsson, World Health Organization's Representative in China said the mainland's response to the virus had been well handled. "All three cases were imported," he said. "So far, we have had no reports of any human-to-human transmission within the community," he said. It came as health experts were examining new H1N1 flu cases in Spain, Britain and Japan, where more than 130 people have been infected. A good number of the new cases were transmitted in-country, infecting people who had not traveled overseas. WHO says transmission rates in countries outside the Americas is the key factor in whether the agency should raise its pandemic alert scale to the highest level. Right now it is at phase 5 - out of a possible 6 - meaning a global outbreak is "imminent." |
