Beware & Protect Yourself 02 (Jan 09 - Aug 10)

[kennynah]

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[winston]

Hong Kong expert warns of "terrible" bird-flu outbreak in China

Hong Kong - Experts were carrying out tests Tuesday on dead birds washed up on Hong Kong beaches amid fears of a huge unreported avian-flu outbreak in neighboring mainland China.

The discovery of the dead birds - which were being tested for H5N1, the bird-flu strain that can be deadly in humans - brought a warning from one of the territory's top bird-flu experts that 'something very terrible' could be happening in China.

Three of 12 birds found on the Hong Kong island of Lantau in the past five days have tested positive for H5N1.

Villagers on the island said dead birds have been washing ashore in recent days and they believe they come from China's Pearl River Delta, which flows out into the South China Sea surrounding Hong Kong.

On Monday alone, the carcasses of one goose, five chickens, a duck and two birds were found, bringing to 12 the number of dead birds found on Lantau since Thursday.

China has in the past hushed up outbreaks of bird flu and SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was rampant in southern China before it spread to Hong Kong and other countries around the world in 2003, killing hundreds of people.

Eight people in China were reported to have died of bird flu in January but, speaking on the government-run radio station RTHK Tuesday, infectious diseases expert Lo Wing-Lok warned the outbreak in China could be far bigger than officials admit.

'This is suddenly something very serious,' said Lo, a legislator and chairman of the Hong Kong Medical Association. 'We have to confirm the source of these dead birds, whether it is local or from the mainland.

'If they are from the mainland, something very terrible could be happening across the border.'

Lo said there were already indications that 'something extraordinary' was happening in China because of the large number of bird-flu cases reported in a short period of time.

'In January, there were eight human cases reported to have come down with H5N1 infection,' Lo said. 'The source of the infection, of course, is poultry.

'Poultry infection may be widespread in the mainland and because of that, [infected] birds may find their way across the border through the water currents, through fishing boats, from visitors bringing a few birds at a time. These are all possibilities we need to consider.'

Hong Kong saw the first outbreak in modern times of bird flu to infect humans in 1997 when six people died and 12 others fell ill.

Since then, it has carried out two mass culls and introduced strict market controls and border controls with China, avoiding human deaths in any of the recent bird-flu outbreaks to sweep the region.

[winston]

Milk Powder From Taiwan Contains Deadly Bacteria

A list of substandard food and cosmetics imported to China between August and November 2008 released by the General Administration of Quality Inspection, Supervision and Quarantine of China shows that three types of baby formula milk powder produced by Taiwan Wen Quan Company contain enterobacter sakazakii, a deadly bacteria.

On October 17, 2008, the milk powder which was imported through Hong Kong by the Shenzhen Heng Li An Trade Company was found to contain this bacteria, reports local Chinese media. The infected milk powders weighed a total of 9.624 tons and included Wei Quan Infant Formula Milk Powder, Wen Quan Infant Growing Formula Milk Powder, and Wen Quan Formula Powder for Older Babies.

Other substandard infant food identified included Pauls Milk and a brand of rice powder imported from Australia.

Enterobacter sakazakii is a bacteria that can cause meningitis, enterocolitis, and bacteremia in newborn babies, and it has an expected fatality rate of more than 50%.

[winston]

Kellogg recalls some cookies, bars

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kellogg Co said on Monday it was recalling some Keebler cookies and Special K Protein bars because they were made on the same manufacturing line as foods that might contain peanut products involved in a salmonella-related recall.

The Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and honey almond Special K Protein Meal Bar did not contain any products made by Peanut Corp of America, whose plant has been linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people and may have killed eight.

But another company that used the same manufacturing line as the Kellogg foods may have used contaminated Peanut Corp ingredients, Kellogg said.

Peanut Corp recently expanded its own recall to include all ingredients manufactured at its Blakely, Georgia facility since January 1, 2007. That, in turn, has led Kellogg to expand a previously announced recall of certain peanut butter sandwich crackers and cookies to include all dates of those products, Kellogg said.

[winston]

Mobile phone explodes in China, kills man

Guangzhou (China) - It's being reported that a man has died after putting a new battery in his phone. After the initial charging, he put the phone in his pocket and shortly thereafter it exploded, killing him. This is the ninth such explosion reported since 2002.

The Chinese daily Shin Min Daily News reports the accident occurred on January 30 at 7:30pm local time at what may have been a Lenovo shop. A nearby employee heard a loud bang, looked over and saw her co-worker lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

While the make and model of cell phone is not yet known or not being reported, police are currently investigating whether or not the phone and/or battery were counterfeit. Authorities have issued warning tips that cell phones and batteries should not be tampered with or replaced with counterfeit parts.

In 2007, a 22-yr old welder died from chest wounds when his mobile phone exploded while working at an iron mill. Authorities concluded in that case that the battery had been exposed to sparks and high heat in the iron mill.

[winston]

Shanxi probes pig deaths

A northern province has launched an investigation into the cause behind the recent deaths of more than 1,000 pigs, state media reported.

Xinhua News Agency said 1,056 pigs, most less than a month old, were found dead in 10 villages in one county in Shanxi province.

China is especially wary of any unchecked spread of disease in its pig population. Two years ago, blue ear disease, also known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, killed hundreds of thousands of pigs before it was brought under control.

The outbreak caused farmers to stop raising pigs because of worries they would become infected. That sent the price of pork sharply higher.

Xinhua said animal disease control officials in Shanxi are carrying out the investigation. Officials have already started burying or burning the dead pigs.

It said no contaminated pork had been found in stores or restaurants.

Another disease commonly found in pigs, the Streptococcus suis bacteria, is known to infect people through wounds.

An unusually large and lethal outbreak of Streptococcus suis killed at least 38 people in the southwestern province of Sichuan in 2005, mostly farmers who butchered or handled infected pigs. More than 200 people were infected. Pockets of infection were also reported then in Hong Kong and Jiangsu province in the east.

Symptoms include high fever, nausea and vomiting, followed by meningitis, hemorrhaging under the skin, toxic shock and sometimes coma. Some patients have also suffered organ failure.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

[winston]

Looks like I have another reason to avoid all those fried chickens...

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China Culls 13,000 Poultry After Bird-Flu Outbreak (Update1) By Simeon Bennett

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China said it culled more than 13,000 poultry after discovering the H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in Xinjiang province, five days after saying none of the human cases this year were linked to outbreaks among birds.

The outbreak in the northwestern province, which began at the start of this month, is the country’s first since December, China’s Chief Veterinary Officer Yu Kangzhen said in a Feb. 10 report to the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris. It said 1,330 farmed birds were infected with avian flu and 519 died.

Authorities have vaccinated 350,000 birds in Xinjiang in an effort to stop the virus spreading, Yu said in the report. China’s Ministry of Agriculture said the outbreak had been controlled, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

A 31-year-old woman died in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi on Jan. 23 after contracting the H5N1 virus, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Jan. 24, citing the regional health department.

The Ministry of Agriculture said there had been no avian flu outbreaks among poultry in the provinces where human infections were reported, the official China Daily reported on Feb. 6.

Eight people have been infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu in China this year and five have died, Nyka Alexander, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News today.

Flu Pandemic

International health officials have been monitoring H5N1 for more than a decade for signs it could mutate into a form that is easily spread between humans. A flu pandemic of avian or other origin could kill 71 million people worldwide and lead to a “major global recession” costing more than $3 trillion, according to a worst-case scenario outlined by the World Bank in October.

H5N1 has infected at least 406 people in 15 countries since 2003, killing 63 percent of them, according to the Web site of the Geneva-based WHO. Of 38 confirmed cases in China so far, 25 have been fatal.

[winston]

French baby formula found to be tainted

South Korean officials have found harmful bacteria in a French baby formula product and vowed to step up tests on future shipments.

Officials of the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service said they detected a bacterial strain called enterobacter sakazaki in a shipment of 135 kilograms of canned organic formula produced by Vitagermine and imported last month.

E sakazaki bacteria can cause meningitis and enteritis.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

[winston]

AVA suspends pork, pork products and dairy products from Taiwan
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 19 February 2009 1143 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has suspended the import of all pork, pork products and dairy products from Taiwan.

This follows confirmation of an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth disease at two farms in Taiwan's Yun-Lin and Chang-Hua counties. A total of 677 pigs were culled after the disease was confirmed.

The AVA said heat-processed pork products which meet the requirements for heat inactivation of foot-and-mouth disease as well as dairy products that are made from double pasteurised milk or if the pH of the dairy product is less than 6, will not be affected by the suspension.

Taiwan exported 999 tonnes of frozen pork and pork products to Singapore last year. This accounts for less than one per cent of total pork imports into the country. Most of Singapore's pork supply comes from Australia, Brazil and Indonesia.

Foot-and-mouth is a severe, highly contagious viral disease which affects cattle, pigs, sheep and other cloven-hoofed livestock. It is not usually fatal, but an outbreak leads to losses in the production of meat and milk.

- CNA/AFP/ir

[winston]

70 sick in China after eating tainted pig organs

BEIJING (AP) — At least 70 people in southern China fell ill after eating pig organs contaminated by a banned animal feed additive, state media said Monday.

The cases underscore a continuing battle with food safety in a country where supply chains are murky and the rising cost of labor, land and fuel sometimes force producers to cut corners in order to make a profit.

Three people were in the hospital, while the rest were discharged after being treated for stomach aches and diarrhea over the weekend, the China Daily said.

The pig organs tainted by the steroid clenbuterol were sold last week in markets in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, it said.

Clenbuterol helps to build muscle and is frequently used as an illegal performance enhancing drug by track and field athletes. China has banned its use as a pig feed additive.

Authorities have detained three people involved with raising and selling the pigs, which came from farms in the neighboring province of Hunan, the China Daily said.

In 2006, more than 300 people in Shanghai were hospitalized after eating pork and pig organs tainted with clenbuterol.