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China Confirms First Swine Flu H1N1 Case

May 11, 2009

By Stephanie Ho

Beijing (RPRN)11 May 2009--Health workers guard a checkpoint as people are being released from quarantine at a holiday camp where they were held for a week in Hong Kong Thursday, 7 May 2009



China has confirmed its first case of swine influenza, H1N1. The carrier is a 30 year old Chinese man, who had returned to China from the United States, where he was pursuing university studies.

Mao Qun'an is the spokesperson for China's Health Ministry.

Mao identified the 30-year-old patient by his surname, Bao, and said Bao flew from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States to Beijing, via Tokyo, on Saturday.  Bao then continued to travel that day, with a flight to Chengdu, in Sichuan province.

The Chinese spokesman said Bao only began feeling ill on his flight from Beijing to Chengdu, and went directly to a hospital in Chengdu after landing.

Tests were carried out at the local level, which showed Bao had what health authorities called a mild case of H1N1. The results were confirmed at the central government level Sunday.

Mao says China has reported information about Bao's case to the World Health Organization as well as to other countries.

Bao is in quarantine at a hospital in Chengdu. The spokesman says his temperature is normal and that his mental health is fine.

Sichuan authorities have placed under observation the people Bao came into contact with.

The official Xinhua News Agency says Sichuan province health authorities also have quarantined 130 of the 150 passengers aboard Bao's Beijing to Chengdu flight.

The Xinhua report says Beijing authorities were able to check 120 of the 143 passengers who were on the same Tokyo to Beijing flight as Bao, and are still seeking to talk to the rest.

The report says some of the passengers are foreign nationals, and that Chinese authorities are "persuading them to take quarantine measures." It gave no details.

Chinese authorities recently quarantined Mexican and Canadian citizens who were in China. The Chinese government also banned imports of pork and pork products from Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Also, amidst a simmering diplomatic feud with China over the treatment of Mexicans in China, Mexico says it will not attend a global food industry event in Shanghai later this month

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