84 H7N9 cases in Guangdong since March 2013

The number of H7N9 bird influenza patients in Guangdong province since March 2013 has reached 84, among whom 23 have died, a renowned medical expert said on Monday.

About 80 percent of the cases were related to poultry markets, with only a few cases related to chicken farms, said Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in Guangdong province.

There were about 370 cases of H7N9 bird flu found nationwide as of Monday since March 2013, when the nation's first such case was reported, and the number is still increasing, Zhong said at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.

Health authorities have not found any sign of human-to-human infection of the disease, and no medical workers have been diagnosed with the disease, said Zhong, who is a deputy to the NPC.

The government has taken measures including enhancing sterilization procedures and suspending poultry markets to prevent the disease from spreading, he said.

Some vaccines have been produced and injected into people considered highly at risk, and more effective vaccines are being researched, he added.

On Friday, a 27-year-old man who lives in Fuzhou city, Fujian province, was confirmed to have been infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus. He was treated in an isolation ward of the county hospital, Xinhua News Agency reported.