SHANGHAI, April 5 (Xinhua)
-- A total of 20,536 chickens, ducks,
geese and pigeons from a live
poultry trading zone in Shanghai were
slaughtered after the H7N9 virus was
detected there, Shanghai authorities said
Friday.
Huhuai Agricultural Products
Wholesale Market, located at Dongjing
Township of Songjiang District, was
closed earlier this morning after the
H7N9 bird flu virus was detected from
samples of pigeons in the
market.
Excrement, contaminated
fodder, padding from cages as well
as waste water in the market
have been disinfected before disposal,
according to the agricultural commission
of Shanghai municipal.
As of 6
a.m., the whole market had been
cleaned.
The Agricultural Commission,
Industry & Commerce Administration, Health
Department of Songjiang District and
the government of Dongjing Township,
worked together in the disposal
overnight.
Relevant departments are
still investigating and tracking where
the infected pigeons came from, and
have launched investigations at other
agricultural product markets in the
city.
Six people, who had
close contact with the poultry, are
under medical observation. Their blood
samples have been sent to Shanghai
Municipal Center of Disease Control &
Prevention.
Vendors in the
market have been paid compensation for
their poultry, according to the
agricultural commission.
China has
confirmed 14 H7N9 cases -- six in Shanghai,
four in Jiangsu, three in Zhejiang
and one in Anhui, in the first
known human infections of the
lesser-known strain. Of the cases,
four have died in Shanghai and
there have been two losses of
life in Zhejiang.
