H7N9 surveillance eases as risk reduces: CDC
ROC Central News Agency
2014/04/15 19:36:52
Taipei, April 15 (CNA) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Tuesday that the level of its surveillance on the H7N9 avian flu strain will return to normal, ending the operation of its H7N9 Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
The CDC's latest assessment found no evidence that there will be widespread human-to-human transmission, said CDC Director-General Chang Feng-yee.
'The risk of the disease spreading widely in Taiwan via humans in the near future is considered low,' Chang said.
The severity of H7N9 remains the same, with a mortality rate of some 30 percent, but its relatively limited human-to-human transmissibility has made pandemic control more manageable, added Christine Liu, the CDC's director of Epidemic Intelligence Center.
Liu said the risk of massive community outbreak is now seen as low.
A higher likelihood at the moment is imported cases from China, according to Liu.
To date, a total of 574 suspected H7N9 cases have been reported to the CDC and infections have been confirmed in two imported cases from China since the disease broke out there in March 2013.
According to the World Health Organization, since April 14, 2013, a cumulative total of 420 H7N9 influenza infections have been confirmed around the world. All of the cases have been either Chinese nationals or originating from China. However, related disease monitoring will not stop and will be handled during regular conferences held by the Executive Yuan, Chang said.
The H7N9 CECC opened April 3 last year and operated for 374 days, making it Taiwan's longest-serving disease control unit, Chang said.
One of the most important tasks the CECC accomplished in response to the H7N9 outbreak is a ban on the slaughtering of live poultry at traditional wet markets that became effective May 17, 2013, Chang said.
(By Lee Hsin-Yin)
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