Bird flu resurfaces in China; four new cases reported

Beijing: As winter sets in, China is once again witnessing a surge in cases of deadly H7N9 bird flu that claimed 45 lives in the country in the past few months.

A 64-year-old farmer in east China`s Zhejiang Province has been confirmed to have contracted H7N9 bird flu virus, bringing the total number of avian influenza cases in China to four this autumn, local health authorities said on Saturday. The farmer, surnamed Ren from Jiaxing City, was confirmed infected from the disease on November 4 after she began showing symptoms on October 30. She is now in a serious condition, according to the Zhejiang Provincial Health Department. The case follows two others in the same Province confirmed on October 15 and 23, and another in southern Guangdong Province confirmed on November 5, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The cases abated during the summer and began surfacing again as winter set in all over China. China had reported 134 cases by the end of August, with 45 fatalities, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission. No new cases were reported on the Chinese mainland in September. The disease was reported so far only in China and one case was confirmed in Taiwan. Chinese health officials have developed a vaccine for the disease which was approved by the World Health Organisation and is expected to be available in the coming months.