Pearl Briefing | Mainland China's delta region grows indifferent to H7N9 at its peril
Across the delta, authorities are making little effort to educate the public
The Pearl River Delta is entering peak bird flu season but the region appears unprepared for a possible outbreak. Wet markets continue to sell live poultry, diners are ordering up plates of raw chicken for hot pot feasts, and some residents say they were surprised to learn there were recent human cases.
Health authorities at the municipal and provincial level are largely to blame for the lack of awareness. Almost no information was released about the first fatality of the season. Officials only said a man died from H7N9 in Meizhou on December 3 - with no word given on where or when he contracted the virus, or whether he had been in contact with live poultry.
Neither was much released about the first case - health authorities posted a two-sentence item online last month saying a 31-year-old woman was confirmed to have the virus and remained in critical condition in hospital. Local media reported she sold live chickens with her husband at a wet market stall in Changping, a town in Dongguan . She developed a fever on November 23 and tests confirmed five days later she had the virus, reports said. She was being treated in Guangzhou.
Dongguan health authorities closed live poultry stalls the next day, but they reopened on December 2.
Two cases is a long way from the seasonal average of about 55. But the delta is just two months into about an eight or nine-month period where the risk is heightened.
During the peak season last year, local media regularly broadcast guidelines informing residents of the risks. As the temperature drops, people are gathering more around hot pot meals. Locals like to have uncooked chicken and vegetables on the table and add them to the boiling soup throughout the dinner.
I have a child in a private kindergarten in Longhua New Zone and have not received any guidelines from the school or government about how to protect my daughter. No notices have been posted in community health centres. In Shenzhen, an English teacher said she wasn't aware of the latest cases. "I had no idea bird flu has occurred this winter," Xu Qiaoyin said. "I think I must have missed the news even though I read the local newspaper every day."