Bird flu peril increasing, health chief warns
The risk of bird flu infection has become more serious, Secretary for Food and Health York Chow Yat-ngok said after nine bird carcasses found in the city tested positive for the H5 virus and the Mai Po Nature Reserve was closed for 21 days.
Birds were more prone to bird flu infection in winter and that could spread to humans, Dr Chow said after a Legislative Council health services panel meeting. 'We have been urging residents not to touch any poultry. The chance of getting infected with avian flu increases if we touch birds with symptoms.'
He said chickens imported from the mainland were still safe, as officials had found no evidence of bird flu after testing chicken blood serum at the border and inspecting farms in Guangdong.
The bird carcasses infected with H5N1, the potentially lethal strain of bird flu, probably washed down the Pearl River to Hong Kong, but Dr Chow said the mainland had not reported any major outbreaks.
'If there were an outbreak in rural areas, the testing process might take a little longer than in Hong Kong,' he said.
Meanwhile, he said the coming two weeks would see flu in the city peak, although fewer people had been admitted to hospitals this year.
He said it was still too early to evaluate the government's subsidised flu shots scheme for children under six, which was introduced last year. Parental views would become clearer after one or two seasons.
Obio Pharmaceutical has announced a new drug called TG21, which it says combats strains of bird flu such as H5N1 and H3N2.
The drug, which could be available in two years, was at the clinical trial stage, said Bill Piu Chan of the Hong Kong-based firm. He said the drug increased survival rates and decreased the amount of virus in animals infected by H5N1.
'TG21 operates with a different mechanism than existing anti-flu drugs ... Viruses will not be able to develop resistance against the new drug so easily,' he said.
He said its active ingredient had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.
