China confirms outbreak of bird flu
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:47:24 GMTHONG KONG - Chinese officials have confirmed that bird flu was to blame for killing chickens in poultry markets in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Hong Kong's health bureau Sunday.
China's Ministry of Agriculture notified the administration that the birds tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus, marking the country's fifth outbreak among poultry this year, Hong Kong's Food and Health Bureau said in a statement.
The Ministry of Agriculture also said on its Web site that last week's outbreak in Guangzhou killed 114 birds and resulted in the slaughter of 518 others. But it has been contained, the ministry said.
China, which raises more poultry than any other country worldwide, has vowed to aggressively fight the virus. H5N1 has killed at least 235 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic that kills millions. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.
China has already reported three human bird flu deaths this year, including a 44-year-old migrant worker last month in southern Guangdong province. It has recorded 20 human deaths since the virus began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in late 2003.
China US probe heparin blood thinner
Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:34:39 GMTBy HENRY SANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
BEIJING - China and the United States are working together to investigate the blood-thinner heparin, which has been linked to 19 American deaths, China's food and drug administration said Sunday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been widening its investigation into the hundreds of adverse reactions — including difficulty breathing, nausea and falling blood pressure — linked to U.S. health care company Baxter International's heparin injections.
Heparin is derived from pig intestines, and China is the world's leading supplier.
U.S. and Chinese officials have been investigating heparin samples but have reached no conclusions, Wu Zhen, the deputy commissioner of China's State Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday.
"China's State Food and Drug Administration and America's FDA are working closely together on the heparin investigation, and American investigators came to China to investigate and we supported them," Wu said at a news conference.
"The most important thing now is that the scientists of both sides launch an in-depth investigation into the details," he said. "We can't take effective measures until we find the cause."
The U.S. FDA found a contaminant in 20 of 28 samples of raw heparin from Baxter's main supplier, Scientific Protein Laboratories of the United States, which gets the bulk of its heparin from a joint venture in China's east Jiangsu province.
Scientists don't yet know exactly what the contaminant is, except that it mimics heparin so closely that standard drug-purity tests will not catch it. Nor is it certain that the contaminant is to blame for the allergic reactions, although it is the prime suspect.
Wu said it was still unclear at what stage the heparin had been contaminated because the production process was long and complicated. He said Scientific Protein Laboratories got its raw material from Kaipu Biochemical Co. in Changzhou, also known as Changzhou SPL.
Wu said the heparin could have been contaminated after production or when the drug was exported overseas.
A different brand of heparin has also been recalled in Germany after 80 patients there became sick, and the German manufacturer said it was narrowing down the source of contamination to another Chinese supplier.
The mayor of Changzhou, Wang Weicheng, said Friday that the city government had cooperated with the investigation and was seriously monitoring the companies in the city. He said it was the first time a problem had been reported.
The city shut down 800 chemical companies last year for violating environmental standards, he said.
Blood thinner held at border for testing
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:02:30 GMTBy LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials have ordered all imports of the blood thinner heparin, and its raw ingredient, stopped at the border for testing to detect a contaminant linked to 19 deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration announced the move Friday, the latest step in its widening investigation of hundreds of allergic-type reactions linked to Baxter International's heparin injections.
The FDA found the contaminant in 20 of 28 samples of raw heparin that the agency tested from Baxter's main supplier, a Chinese factory owned by Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories.
A different brand of heparin also has been recalled in Germany after 80 patients there got sick, and the German manufacturer said Friday that it was narrowing down the source of contamination to another Chinese supplier.
FDA announced some good news Friday, saying it had learned of no additional deaths and just two more allergic reactions since Baxter recalled the last of the suspect heparin late last month.
Scientists don't yet know exactly what the contaminant is, except that it mimics heparin so closely that standard drug-purity tests won't catch it. Nor is it certain that the contaminant is to blame for the allergic reactions, although it is the prime suspect.
But the FDA is "very close" to identifying the substance, a step that should help tell if the contaminant got into heparin by accident or by fraud, said FDA drug chief Dr. Janet Woodcock.
Heparin is derived from pig intestines, and China is the world's leading supplier. Tiny family-run workshops near slaughterhouses send batches of raw ingredients to larger middlemen before they reach factories like SPL's in Changzhou. The FDA hasn't yet inspected those workshops, saying that was something under discussion with Chinese officials.
Two weeks ago, the FDA urged all remaining U.S. heparin manufacturers to start using more sophisticated tests to be sure their products were contaminant-free. Friday, the agency said worldwide testing had begun.
The added hurdle for imports "will improve our safety net," Woodcock said. "We will get a much better picture of whether there's any contaminant existing, and we can trace it back" to its source.
Most of the actual import testing will be done by five of the nation's leading heparin manufacturers, which will be cleared to sell their products once the FDA receives those test results.
The FDA itself will test any remaining shipments that arrive from abroad.
The FDA wouldn't name the five companies that will do their own testing, and acknowledged it has no plans to do spot checks of the quality of those companies' tests.
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On the Net:
Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov/
Baxter International: http://www.baxter.com/
