China is mixing deadly H5N1 bird flu viruses with H1N1 swine flu viruses. You heard that right. The virus can already be passed between guinea pigs, which are used in these experiments as some sort of guinea pigs. They are making pigs and birds science-bone each other until they come up with some sort of superbug.... Read more »
There’s a mighty “might” in this, but China Daily is reporting that one person infected with bird flu might have caught the disease from a human host. An investigation by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is underway: The family involves two brothers and their 87-year-old father, who died on March 4 and was reportedly... Read more »
China has confirmed 14 new cases of H7N9 bird flu, bringing the total to 77, according to Xinhua, with 16 reported deaths. The virus keeps getting more evolved, too. (Or something?) Beijing’s second case of H7N9 was a carrier who displayed no symptoms: this boy of four years old. The latest, via Reuters, is equally... Read more »
Intrigue in the bird flu saga. A four-year-old boy in Beijing tested positive for H7N9 yesterday, according to the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, but he has yet to show any symptoms. The boy’s parents, traders of poultry and fish, voluntarily went in to Beijing’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for tests recently. Only the boy’s came... Read more »
It was only a matter of time, and it's somewhat surprising it's taken this long. Xinhua reports that a seven-year-old girl in Beijing was infected with H7N9, confirmed earlier today after a test by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The girl reported symptoms on Thursday, but after checking into the hospital, she is reportedly in stable condition.
It really is amazing what people believe: A few years ago, everyone started eating eggplant after a quack TCM doctor said it was the new panacea; after the Fukushima meltdown, iodized salt was sold out as people rushed to prevent radiation poisoning, never realizing that iodized salt contains such miniscule amounts of iodine that you would first die before getting enough into your system; and now, after several provincial health authorities recommended it to prevent H7N9 infections, people are rushing to buy the traditional Chinese medical remedy for colds and flus, ban lan gen (板蓝根, sometimes rendered as banlan'gen).
I’ve seen way more live chickens on the streets of Shanghai than Beijing, but soon, we might not see any at all. That’s because authorities are considering a permanent ban on live poultry sales in Shanghai, according to the latest. SCMP brings us this: The director of Shanghai’s agriculture commission, Sun Lei , said it... Read more »
This is just practice, says the video description. In the real world, a chengguan's inability to nab a scurrying chicken could result in the proliferation of that killer virus, H7N9 bird flu. Go, chenguan, go. We trust you.
