SHANGHAI, China Nov 10, 2005 — Authorities in China said Thursday they have quarantined 116 people in northeastern Liaoning province after two new outbreaks of bird flu there. The province has now suffered three outbreaks in less than three weeks despite a massive campaign to contain the virus.
China did not make clear the extent to which the 116 people in Liaoning were being isolated. The country has imposed quarantines in other bird-flu afflicted areas but in at least one case residents were restricted only from leaving their village.
Source. The story gets worse:
The latest outbreaks in China added to concerns that fake bird flu vaccines for poultry were threatening public health after officials reported an unapproved product was sold in Liaoning province, site of the three most recent outbreaks.
"This is something we find to be a very unwelcome development," Peter Cordingley, a World Health Organization spokesman, said in comments broadcast by Hong Kong's Cable TV. "Quite clearly, there's a major problem in Liaoning, and it seems from what the Chinese are saying this has to do with using shoddy, inferior or maybe fake vaccines for poultry."
"And what we have now, almost certainly we think, is sick chickens who are showing no symptoms, and that is very, very bad. They are silent carriers of the virus," Cordingley said.
