The government has issued a health caution for Bangladeshis travelling to six provinces of China, following a recent outbreak of a new variant of bird flu virus.
The new virus, called H7N9 was first detected in February this year and has so far infected 130 people, killing 35 of them till May 13. The states named in the warning are: Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Zhengzhou, Henan, Beijing and Shanghai,
Director of Health Services of CDC (Communicable Diseases Control) Professor Be-Nazir Ahmed said the department has issued the caution for Bangladeshis travelling to these provinces of China for business, official works and study.
He said, as there was no proof yet that the H7N9 virus can spread between people, market places, poultry farms were the places where people could be infected. Unlike other variants of the virus, H7N9 infected poultry did not show any symptoms. So, there would be risk for Bangladeshi tourists who visit China without being informed.
The health caution, published in the website (www.dghs.gov.bd) of Health Services on April 30, urged travellers to avoid poultry farm areas, open market places where chicken trading, slaughter and processing occurs. It also asked them to wash hands, and face with soap after coming from outside and use a mask if required. The caution suggests use of Tamiflu capsule twice in a day for five days in case of influenza, Influenza-like Illness or severe acute respiratory infection.
According to Reuters in Beijing, Chinese scientists have said only those who have come close to chickens have so far been infected. However, WHO reports show 40% of infected people had not been near chicken.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was no possibility of an H7N9 pandemic at the moment, but it could not be sure as the virus is mutating rapidly.
Meanwhile, Director of Health Services confirmed that Health Services has taken steps to diagnose the virus even though it has not spread in Bangladesh. Management guidelines have been prepared in case of an outbreak.
Orientation of assistant professors and professors of medicine, paediatrics, virology, microbiology and community medicine, civil surgeons, district and upazila officials of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has also started, he said.
He pointed out a huge number of poultry were killed in recent years in Bangladesh following bird flu infections. The only record of human death from bird flu was a child died at the beginning of this year.
