Bird Flu Outbreak in Xinjiang: What Does This Mean?
Until now, I’ve never lived in a place where words like “outbreak”, “epidemic”, or “H5N1″ made me shudder. Now I’m not sure what to think. China has now officially reported the first bird flu outbreak this year which began with the death of 519 chickens here in Xinjiang and has already claimed the life of a 31-year old woman who lived not far from the capital city of Urumqi.
Preventative measures have been taken which included the killing of 13,000 more fowl and I now read that China’s agricultural ministry has announced that everything is under control.
But is everything really “under control”? The reported outbreak on Tuesday was over 1,000 km from where this woman died of confirmed bird flu. I’m sorry, but I just don’t yet feel comforted by these assuring words.
So is it safe to eat chicken? How about eggs? I think my wife and I are going to be holding out on eating poultry for a little while although we’re not sure how long. That may seem drastic, but what would you do? We live less than 3 hours away from Urumqi. Anybody out there been in this position?
Out of the eight people who have contracted the bird flu in China this year, five have died. We’re not gonna mess around with this stuff.
Update: According to this Xinhua article, a day after the Urumqi woman died China assured everyone that they are stockpiling the bird flu vaccine for a possible outbreak. I’m glad they’re taking precautionary measures, but again…”under control”?
Sources:
The Straights Times: Bird Flu Outbreak in Xinjiang
CNN: China Records its Fourth Bird Flu Death this Year
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