New Scientist magazine says the current Asia-Pacific bird flu
started in China nearly a year ago, and accuses China of a
cover-up. China denies it.
The charge is serious because only a year ago China fired several
senior officials including the national health chief and the mayor
of Beijing for covering up the initial spread of SARS, assuring
Western companies with operations in China that it signaled the end
of such cover-ups.
"After strenuous denials, Indonesia has admitted the H5N1 virus has
been spreading there since August. Thailand admits it had it in
November. China says the disease was first detected this week. In
fact, the outbreak began as early as the first half of 2003,
probably in China," New Scientist says in its latest print edition.
"A combination of official cover-up and questionable farming
practices allowed it to turn into the epidemic now under
way."
The Reuters news agency Thursday quoted a denial by Qu Jingfa, the
vice minister of agriculture, visiting Bangkok for a conference on
bird flu: "It is purely a guess, a groundless guess."
The magazine quotes Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization
official responsible for tracking flu, as saying, "We are aware of
samples taken early last year that turned out to be this strain
exactly." New Scientist says the samples came from China,
attributing this to other sources.
China Daily reported Thursday that senior Chinese officials laid
down the law on doing what it takes to control bird flu. "Chinese
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have stressed that the
prevention and control work against bird flu should be conducted
effectively based on scientific knowledge and in line with the
law," the official newspaper said.
The World Health Organization said Wednesday the key to controlling
bird fly is to slaughter infected flocks.
Indonesia said it would do no such thing. Its officials said they
would leave that up to farmers, and suggested it would be
sufficient to vaccinate poultry.
WHO opposes that because poor vaccine matches can actually promote
the spread of bird flu by immunizing birds that can catch and
spread similar strains of flu without showing any sign of
illness.
New Scientist reports that China has had an innoculation program
since the late 1990s which might have set the stage for the current
epidemic.
