Tuckerfan
24-July-2005, 07:33 AM
From the land that gave us SARS. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/23/AR2005072300936.html)An unidentified disease has killed nine farmers and sickened 11 others in a rural part of China's western Sichuan province, prompting the government to dispatch an emergency team of researchers to investigate whether the deaths are related to bird flu, a Health Ministry spokesman said Saturday.
State media said the illnesses occurred between June 24 and July 21 in about 15 villages surrounding the city of Ziyang, 945 miles southwest of Beijing. All of the farmers had recently slaughtered sick pigs or sheep, and researchers from the health and agriculture ministries are investigating a possible link, the official New China News Agency said.If it's bird flu, then it's jumped species three times, once from birds to sheep, next to pigs, and then to humans. If it's not bird flu, then what is it?
State media said the illnesses occurred between June 24 and July 21 in about 15 villages surrounding the city of Ziyang, 945 miles southwest of Beijing. All of the farmers had recently slaughtered sick pigs or sheep, and researchers from the health and agriculture ministries are investigating a possible link, the official New China News Agency said.If it's bird flu, then it's jumped species three times, once from birds to sheep, next to pigs, and then to humans. If it's not bird flu, then what is it?