China Fights Spread of Deadly Avian Virus<br />18, 2017<br />BEIJING — The Chinese authorities are battling a surge in H7N9 "bird flu" infections,<br />and have shuttered live poultry markets across the country after dozens of people in recent weeks were killed by the disease.<br />The strain, H7N9, is an avian influenza virus that can infect people who come in close contact with infected live or newly killed birds.<br />As of Friday, health officials confirmed eight deaths and 77 diagnosed cases just in February, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.<br />Since November, there have been at least 355 confirmed H7N9 cases in mainland China, according to the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection.<br />In Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in southwest China, three people were detained by the police for spreading rumors<br />that bird flu had been found there, the police said on Friday.<br />China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission has banned sales of live poultry in some areas across eastern, southern and southwestern China.<br />An outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which spread across China in 2003, deeply<br />damaged public trust in the government after senior officials tried to conceal its spread.
