CDC confident of combating H7N9 virus
ROC Central News Agency
2013/04/05 21:59:01
Taipei, April 5 (CNA) The close exchanges between Taiwan and China mean that the new H7N9 avian flu strain will land in Taiwan sooner or later, a Department of Health (DOH) official said Friday, but he expressed confidence at Taiwan's ability to combat the virus.
Chang Feng-yee, director-general of the DOH's Centers for Disease Control, said he had full confidence in Taiwan's medical and quarantine system.
He was also confident that Taiwan would obtain samples of the H7N9 virus from which it could develop vaccines, even if China does not supply it.
Chang, who is serving as head of the Central Epidemic Command Center, said the H7N9 virus has a seven-day incubation period, meaning a Chinese visitor could be healthy before leaving on a trip to Taiwan only to show H7N9 symptoms while in the country.
"The patients will not only appear at airports. They will show up at homes or at hotels," he said.
Not all H7N9 patients can possibly be intercepted at the fever screening stations set up at airports and harbors, he said, and hospitals will have to step up their ability to cope with the unexpected, include all patients in the system, and put a priority on early detection, diagnosis and treatment.
The earlier the use of tamiflu and other flu-fighting drugs the better, he said, because it will cut mortality rates and mitigate the spread of the disease.
As of 7 p.m. Friday, China had reported 16 confirmed H7N9 cases - including six cases in Shanghai, one in Anhui, six in Jiangsu, and three in Zhejiang -- with six of the patients dying (four in Shanghai and two in Zhejiang).
The CDC has received reports of eight suspected cases of the virus among both Chinese visitors and Taiwanese nationals, but they have all been ruled out as H7N9 cases after further examination.
Chang said Taiwan will send officials to China to learn more about the disease, with details to be hammered out in one or two days.
"Otherwise, it would be hard for us to say anything if we don't know what they're doing to deal with the disease," he said.
Chang believed that the H7N9 virus is mainly transmitted from fowls to humans, and that the disease is not highly pathogenic in birds.
The virus is not easily transmitted to humans, he said, but once a person is infected, the virus attacks deep into the lungs, resulting in a critical illness.
Huang Kwo-ching, deputy director of the Bureau of Animal and Plan Health Inspection and Quarantine, said Friday that it has continued to monitor migratory birds, fowls and pigs since the reports of H7N9 cases, and no virus has been detected.
Meanwhile, China Airlines and EVA Air, the two largest air carriers in Taiwan, said that they have stepped up disinfection on planes flying between Taiwan and China and have suspended or stopped the use of Chinese poultry or other fowl or eggs in on-board meals.
The CDC has listed the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui and the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing as areas that have been affected by the H7N9 virus.
Two schools for children of Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai and another in Jiangsu have not reported any suspected cases of the H7N9 flu to date, the Education Ministry said Friday.
The ministry urged the more than 10,000 Taiwanese in China studying for degrees or on academic exchanges to pay attention to their personal hygiene in line with the quarantine measures of Chinese local governments.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong reported its first suspected H7N9 case Friday, and the patient has now been put in quarantine.
Hong Kong stock market fell by 610.59 points to 21,726.90 Friday on fears over China's outbreak of H7N9 and North Korea's threat to go to war.
In Shanghai, meanwhile, the city government closed all live poultry markets in the city and culled over 20,000 live fowls to curb the spread of the deadly virus, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.
(By Chen CHing-fang and Lilian Wu)
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