China's Bird Flu Jumps The Border As First Case Confirmed In Taiwan

While precious little space has been dedicated in the US media to what remains an uncontained epidemic of the H7N9 bird flu in China, cases continue to spread even as the number of deaths mount, taking at least 22 reported lives at last check. Things just got from bad to worse, as the bird flu is now following in the footsteps of the 2003 SARS breakout, with the first reported case outside of China hitting newswires overnight.

The SCMP reports that "Taiwan on Wednesday reported the first case of the H7N9 bird flu outside of mainland China. The case involves a 53-year-old man, who had been working in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou. He showed flu symptoms three days after returning to Taiwan via Shanghai, the Centres for Disease Control said, adding that he had been hospitalised since April 16 and was in a critical condition." Considering the lack of transparency of the Chinese government one can only guess, literally, at what the true morbidity and mortality statistics of the flu epidemic are, which is perhaps the main reason this ongoing story for the past two months has so far evaded major coverage. Read more >>