WHO: China faces challenges in bird flu
(AFP/Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-17 15:58

But Bekedam added: "China has many challenges. China has a large poultry population of 14 billion and 70 percent of that poultry is being kept in the backyard."

Outbreaks in these small family farms might be reported "a bit late" and it is difficult to monitor poultry there, he said.

Difficulties are compounded by the country's vast size and the fact that it is normal for some poultry to die in farms, Bekedam said.

Another challenge is that some poor farmers, lacking awareness, sometimes eat the diseased poultry.

The key for China was to properly compensate farmers so they will not hide outbreaks to avoid mandatory culls, and to keep track of the virus.

The H5N1 flu virus, which has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia and at least one person in China, is so far only transmitted from poultry to humans, but experts fear it will create a pandemic if the virus can mutate to become transmittable from human to human.

Bekedam said he was encouraged that one of the two human cases China reported Wednesday was discovered through the human surveillance system, which shows it is working.

The 24-year-old woman in Anhui province was diagnosed with bird flu even though there was no outbreak in her village, Bekedam said.

As the virus can survive longer in colder environments, Bekedam warned there could be more poultry outbreaks and therefore more human cases this winter.

However, he cautioned against alarming the public.

"If you put a message out there very strongly, then Chinese people might go into a panic, which is absolutely unnecessary," Bekedam said.