Special report: Global fight against bird flu

    BEIJING, Jan. 9 -- Health authorities in Beijing say they have moved to prevent a bird flu outbreak, after an infected young woman died on Monday. They reassured the public that it is almost impossible for the disease to spread through human contact.

    Health authorities in Beijing say they have moved to prevent a bird flu outbreak, after an infected young woman died on Monday.

A truck carrying animals is disinfected at a checkpoint in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 8, 2009. The Beijing municipal government has ordered better monitoring of live poultry trade, strengthening poultry examinations and disinfection after a 19-year-old woman died from bird flu virus in Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Gong Lei) Photo Gallery>>>

    Health authorities say an emergency mechanism has been activated to monitor and prevent the spread of the H5N1 virus. Two hospitals have been designated to treat bird flu patients and medical professionals are also in place in the suburbs.

    The incubation period of bird flu is within 7 days. 116 people who had close contact with the dead woman are under medical observation and no sign of the disease has been found.

    Deng Xiaohong, spokesman of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said, "If no cases were found in Beijing within 7 days, the emergency mechanism will be lifted then."

    Experts say bird flu remains largely confined to poultry and it is still hard for people to catch.

    Deng Xiaohong said, "There's no medical evidence to show that bird flu can spread among people. So we residents will not worry. "

Customers select chicken at a market in Tianjin, north China, Jan. 8, 2009. Experts have begun to inspect the poultry in Beijing, Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province in north China after a 19-year-old woman died from bird flu virus in Beijing on Monday. No epidemic outbreak has been reported in northern China at present. (Xinhua/Liu Haifeng) Photo Gallery>>>

    The city has banned the entry of poultry from other parts of the country and an inoculation campaign and surveillance for the disease have been stepped up.

    (Source: CCTV.com)