Hong Kong On Alert As Chinese Officials Begin Chicken Cull After Tenth Person Dies of New Bird Flu Strain

• Officials in an area of Zhejiang province have begun culling chickens 
• H7N9 virus claimed its tenth life yesterday as a 74-year-old man died
• There are now 38 confirmed cases of the new strain in China
• WHO says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission
• Hong Kong is testing batches of chickens imported from mainland China
• Carrier pigeons have been grounded and sales of racing pigeons banned
• US scientists have begun work on creating a vaccine for the strain
• Techniques learned in the swine flu outbreak have given them a head start
• But it could still be five to six months before a vaccine is available

By Steve Nolan

Officials in a region of China have been culling chickens in a bid to stop the spread of a new strain of bird flu which claimed its tenth victim in the country yesterday.

City management officers in the Jiaxing area of Zhejiang province undertook a two day campaign which saw chickens captured and reared in residential areas were captured and killed to try and prevent the H7N9 virus from spreading.

The campaign came as a 74-year-old Shanghai man became the tenth person in the country to die from the mutated form of the virus.

Chinese researchers warned yesterday that the sudden emergence of this strain of flu ‘may pose a serious human health risk’ and said ‘appropriate counter measures were urgently required.’

Hong Kong authorities also announced plans to test all poultry brought in from the mainland.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the cases of infection of the virus in China

Read more at the DailyMail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2307981/Hong-Kong-alert-Chinese-officials-begin-chicken-cull-tenth-person-dies-new-bird-flu-strain.html#ixzz2QHED08ha
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