Diseases ( incl Covid19 ) 02 (Oct 12 - May 20)

[winston]

Two men die in Shanghai in first human cases of bird flu strain

The National Health and Family Planning Commission said it wasn't clear how the three became infected, but there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

Source: SCMP

[winston]

No sign of human transmission in new bird flu appearance: WHO

BEIJING (Reuters) - The World Health Organization says no evidence has emerged to show that a type of bird flu which has killed two Chinese men can be transmitted between people.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/ ... healthNews

[winston]

(H7N9 watch) Three women among four more critical in China, WHO says 88 under surveillance

Four more people in China have been infected with a new strain of bird flu, a local government said today, bringing the country's total to seven.

Three women and one man had contracted H7N9 avian influenza, the health bureau in the eastern province of Jiangsu said in a statement, AFP reports.

The bureau said in a notice on its website that the women were aged 45, 48 and 32, while the man was an 83-year-old retiree. They are from different cities in the province, AP reported.

Two men have already died in Shanghai, while a woman from the eastern province of Anhui is critically ill.
Also today, the World Health Organization said 88 individuals who had been in contact with the two who died in Shanghai early last month were being monitored.

Scientists classify types of flu based on the proteins on the surface of the virus: There are 17 varieties of hemagluttinin, the H in a flu's name, and 10 varieties of neuraminidase, the N component. Any combination of those Hs and Ns could crop up and potentially mutate into a form that's spread easily from person to person, making it dangerous enough to produce a pandemic, AP reported.

The WHO played down fears but said it was crucial to find out how the virus infects humans.

“It's the first time that H7N9 was found in humans,'' the UN health agency's spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva referring to the H7N9 virus.

“It is of concern to WHO and we will be following this with the health authorities in China to know more. But for the time being, it's only three cases and it has shown, for the time being, no human-to-human transmission,'' she added.

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission said over the weekend that two men, aged 87 and 27, died in Shanghai in early March after being infected with H7N9 avian influenza.

Chaib said 88 individuals who had been in contact with the victims were being monitored.

“The state of knowledge as of now is limited,'' she underlined.

Shanghai's health bureau has ordered hospitals to strengthen surveillance of respiratory illness cases.

Source: The Standard HK

[winston]

The new H7N9 bird flu has infected 16 people in eastern China, and six have died since February.

There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus yet.


Source: SCMP

[winston]

So how credible are those Chinese statistics ?

China reports another bird flu death, total now 8

BEIJING (Reuters) - Another person died in China from a new strain of bird flu on Tuesday, state media said, bringing to eight the number of deaths from the H7N9 virus since it was confirmed in humans for the first time last month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/ ... healthNews

[winston]

Chinese Colonel Says Latest Bird Flu Virus Is U.S. Biological Weapon
April 10th, 2013

Colonel Dai Xu of the People’s Liberation Army wrote online that the new strain of bird flu hitting China, known as H7N9, is an American “bio-psychological weapon” meant to destabilize China.

The rant, posted to Dai’s account on the Twitter-like service Weibo, had already been shared by more than 30,000 fellow users by the time that the South China Morning Post reported it on Monday.

Dai now has a quarter million followers on Weibo, which is quite a platform.


Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... nst-china/

[winston]

China hid SARS info for two months

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_ ... r=20130417

[winston]

40pc of H7N9 bird flu victims had no contact with poultry, scientist says


Source: SCMP

[winston]

18 dead from China bird flu: state media

The death toll from a new strain of bird flu in China has reached 18, with dozens infected, state-run media reported, after experts said there is no evidence so far of human-to-human transmission.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130421-18- ... tate-media

[winston]

Equity Strategy

What if H7N9 comes home to roost?

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As the H7N9 bird flu strain starts to ruffle featherscontinues to quietly spread, we look at two scenarios and their impact on growth and equity markets.

In our base case of no human-to-human transmission, the flu is unlikely to pose a significant drag on growth and a very isolated but temporary impact on equities.

But iIn the a worst case of a pandemic scenario, we would see more weakness in the macro environment and markets in North Asia and Singapore are likely to experience significant growth drags of between 2.0-4.0%.

Vulnerable sectors under this scenario include transport/aviation, retail, hotel and gaming in Hong Kong and Singapore. D

Domestically driven markets such as Indonesia are expected to be relatively immune.

Source: CIMB