Hong Kong bans poultry and egg imports after a Chinese infected with bird flu dies

Hong Kong suspended poultry imports from the area in southern China where a man died from the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to a statement posted on Hong Kong?s Centre for Food Safety website.

The import of live, chilled and frozen poultry along with eggs from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the man died, will be suspended for 21 days.

A Chinese bus driver who tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus died Saturday in Shenzhen city bordering Hong Kong. It is the first reported case of the disease in humans in 18 months.

The driver, surnamed Chen, developed a fever on Dec 21. Health Ministry experts confirmed that he was infected with H5N1, but the cause of the bird flu remains unclear, the provincial health department said.

The Ministry of Health has informed the World Health Organization about the case, local authorities said.

Hong Kong began culling more than 17,000 birds last month after the bird flu virus was found in a chicken carcass at a local wholesale market.

Hong Kong was the site of the world?s first major outbreak of bird flu among humans in 1997, when six people died. Millions of birds were slaughtered.

Humans who catch H5N1 usually have symptoms that include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, conjunctivitis, and, in severe cases, breathing problems and pneumonia that may be fatal.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5688737680

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