Shanghai culls 20,000 birds as flu strain kills six people

More than 20,000 birds have been culled at a live poultry market in Shanghai as the Chinese authorities confirmed that six people have died from the H7N9 strain of bird flu.

The Huhuai wholesale market in the Songjiang district of the city was shut down yesterday and 20,536 chickens, ducks, geese and pigeons were slaughtered after the H7N9 virus was detected in pigeons.

City health authorities said they have launched an investigation into where the infected pigeons came from.

Television footage showed workers dressed in white protection suits and masks clearing a market and dumping the carcases of birds into plastic bags.

All of the city’s live poultry markets are to close temporarily from today.

In total, 16 cases of the virus have been reported in China, all in the eastern part of the country.

It is the first time that the H7N9 strain of bird flu has been detected in humans. The latest death, a 64-year-old man, was reported in Zhejiang province. Those infected with the virus range in age from four to 87 years old.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Chinese authorities are monitoring 520 people who had been in close contact with those infected with the virus.

Six people have been infected in Shanghai, a city of 23 million people, four of whom have died, according to the authorities.

The rising death toll prompted some residents to stay away from markets with live chickens and ducks.

“I’m only getting my groceries at the large supermarkets now because I don’t think it is safe to visit the markets anymore,” said 38-year-old Shao Linxia, adding she had also stopped buying poultry since news of the bird flu surfaced.

“We all remember Sars and how quickly it could spread, so we are obviously worried.”

The 2002-03 epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) started in China and killed about one-tenth of the 8,000 it infected.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said that while the virus has been detected in pigeons, it is not fully known where the infections came from.

“We’re not 100 per cent sure what the source of infection is yet so a lot of different routes need to be investigated,” he told The Scotsman.

The Chinese authorities said that no human to human transmission of the virus has been discovered and so far no epidemiological connection between the cases had been found.

The outbreak has been one of the trending topics on Chinese social media over the past few days. While there has been much discussion about how to prevent the virus, some users on the Chinese social media site Weibo expressed concerns about the government’s response.

The issue was even discussed in state-controlled media this week and, on Wednesday, a Xinhua editorial said the “authorities need to make persistent efforts to satisfy people who have become much more aware of their right to knowledge regarding public health issues”.

“Although the government learned a great deal from the Sars outbreak, it still demonstrates signs of immaturity. The Shanghai government has been singled out for not notifying the public about the two H7N9 deaths until nearly half a month after the deaths occurred,” read the editorial.