China has culled all poultry at Huhuai produce market in Songjiang district of Shanghai in order to limit a bird flu outbreak caused by a new strain of H7N9 virus.
The culling was carried out after authorities from the China's Ministry of Agriculture found the strain of H7N9 virus in the samples of pigeons collected from the market, reports Xinhua.
About 14 people have been infected by the new virus in Eastern China: six in Shanghai, four in Jiangsu, three in Zhejiang and one in Anhui, resulting in five deaths.
Although the source of the outbreak has not yet been determined, the health officials stated that
no human-to-human transmission of H7N9 has been discovered and no epidemiological link between the cases has been identified.
Scientists who have studied the genetic sequence of H7N9 said that the virus may have recently mutated into a form that spreads easily to other animals, posing a huge threat to humans.
China's health ministry said that the country will strengthen its leadership in defending the virus and coordinate and deploy the entire nation's health system to combat the virus. The ministry has increased the monitoring of H7N9 bird flu virus in several areas.
In addition, the health authorities have assured transparency and cooperation to the World Health Organization (WHO) over the human infections of the new strain of bird flu.
On 31 March, the China Health and Family Planning Commission notified the WHO of three cases of human infection with influenza A(H7N9).
