Big Bird! The Thanksgiving week has been, appropriately, quite busy in regards to China's ongoing bout against the deadly avian influenza virus. Even our precious hometown Shanghai is beginning to feel the pinch.

So from the mouth of one foul to another, here's a brief rundown of this busy week in bird flu.

11/28: Thought Pudong Airport was far enough? Thanks to our feathered friends, passengers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport "will have to fill out health declaration forms starting today as part of efforts to prevent the spread of bird flu."

11/25: Bird flu hysteria has hit Beijing. "Two dead, wild birds were found at a Beijing office tower yesterday. A dying dove fell to the ground outside a tower on Jianguomenwai Street yesterday. People working in the tower called the police and the epidemic prevention immediately." Some more birds also perished in Xinjiang, bringing the total number of bird flu outbreaks in China this year to 26.

11/24: While China's record of publicizing disease is less than stellar, China has invited the WHO to investigate two bird flu-related deaths in Anhui Province, including its third confirmed case. In other BF news, China's Sinovac Biotech is currently conducting clinical trials on its cleverly named bird flu vaccine, Panflu. With China's bio-technical prowess still largely unproven, Shanghaiist will be clinging to our Tamiflu -- though we may be willing to part with it for the right price.

11/23: China Daily reports: "Ministry of Agriculture yesterday confirmed bird flu outbreaks in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Southwest China's Yunnan Province ... Following the footsteps of Beijing, South China's Guangzhou and Northwest China's Urumqi have closed their live-fowl markets. And Shanghai is about to do so in a day or two. Apart from the 464 markets that are designated to sell fowl, Shanghai will ban sales in any other place." Does that include KFC?

Check out our bird flu archives.

It seems everyone, including UN health officials, are giving the Chinese government kudos in terms of embracing greater media transparency in avian flu reports. This new style of Chinese government was even lauded on US network news, where they noted that the Chinese, rather than trying to keep things hush-hush like with SARS, were now showing everything the government was doing with gusto, a reality TV show about the formerly corrupt and ineffective government that turned a corner and changed its ways.

Temper your optimism, there's still a great deal of media control happening -- not that this surprises you, savvy reader. Shanghaiist's friendly college contact at a Shanghai university showed us a picture from their university BBS, a picture of a document from the authorities in Henan province, detailing what kind of reports and what kind of information could be released to the public. These aren't just friendly reminders, these are guidelines for how to act with respect to the media. The following are some rough translations from this document that you might find interesting:

1. Control the total amount of news reports, make sure that there are not too many and not too few.

2. All major news stories about the Avian Flu must be approved by the authorities in the Provincial agriculture department, disease control and prevention department, and the relevant departments in the central government. No one can release information without going through this procedure, with the exception of certain very important events or information, for which internal consultation may suffice.

3. Propagate the message that the Avian Flu is preventable and controllable, but do not make statements about whether or not the disease is curable, and do not emphasize the fact that humans can also contract the disease.

4. All experts to be interviewed must be vetted by the provincial authorities, no publishing of individual expert opinions by itself.

5. No publishing of sensitive numbers or statistics, no photos involving armed personnel, no detailed reporting on the process of killing, destroying or burying birds.

6. No speculative guesses about the effects or long-term consequences of the disease. No reports or opinions from economists, sociologists or psychologists about the effect of the disease on society.

Last but not least, our favorite one:

7. No quoting or carrying news reports from overseas media and increase monitoring of small newspapers, magazines, and internet sites. No carrying of reports that might distort facts, spread rumors, and arouse mass panic. Those that do not follow these guidelines will be handled accordingly.

Also on Shanghaiist:
This day in bird flu history II
This day in bird flu history I
Still 'finger lickin' good'?
Shanghai might start producing Tamiflu
Paranoia will destroy ya
Sole Search: Bird flu cleaning Shanghai's shoes
OK, now we're worried about the bird flu

Picture from Gothamist.

Shanghaiist is sick of bird flu. But we're dedicated to weeding out the most interesting and useful stories amid the media hysteria surrounding the whole issue. (And we also have to keep up with it for work ... but that doesn't negate our dedication to our readers.) In no particular order of importance, a quick run through of some of the information floating around this week.

Through an interesting feat of logic, China first decided that since bird flu was contained in a particularly hard-hit area in Liaoning province, obviously this meant China had contained the disease ... and then a day later realized this may have been somewhat of a premature statement as the country announced two new outbreaks. For those of you keeping track, that is 17 outbreaks in just the past month ... including the return of bird flu to two areas which had previously contained bird flu outbreaks earlier in the year. So far, China has seen a total of 21 outbreaks in 2005.

Beijing has threatened local officials with demotion, sacking and hefty fines if suspected outbreaks are not reported according to protocol. Shanghaiist is currently reserving judgment on the effectiveness of these measures.

Last week's big announcement of China's plans to vaccinate the country's entire stock of domestic fowl was met with wide international approval. Finally, the New York Times managed to find some experts with a grasp of reality who expressed more than a little skepticism at China's ambitious plan. Seriously. How in the hell is China going to find (and then catch) every single domestic bird in the country -- a very large portion of which run around in peoples' back yards -- and then jab each one (twice!) with a needle?

The unlinkable South China Morning Post announced the return of heat temperature scanners at country borders ... but also featured a story last week about how inaccurate these scanners can be. According to the SCMP, these scanners can be as much as 2 degrees Celsius off the mark due to the location on the face that is targeted for temperature readings.

There, now don't you feel better?

Also on Shanghaiist:
This day in bird flu history I
Still 'finger lickin' good'?
Shanghai might start producing Tamiflu
Paranoia will destroy ya
Sole Search: Bird flu cleaning Shanghai's shoes
OK, now we're worried about the bird flu

Photo from tribuneindia.com.

China has finally announced its long-awaited (and in Shanghaiist’s opinion very long overdue) first human case of bird flu. While the CNN story does not confirm the flu strain, the unlinkable subscription-only South China Morning Post (which has some of the best, most up-to-date information on bird flu) reports that the boy in Hunan province tested positive for the H5N1 strain. While the boy has successfully recovered after falling ill at the end of October from eating part of a chicken that had sickened and died, his 12-year old sister did not … though at the moment her death can only be presumed to be caused by bird flu. Three other suspected human H5N1 cases have not yet been confirmed.

While there have been nearly 150 human cases of H5N1 bird flu elsewhere in Asia, officially, China has denied any human cases until today. Shanghaiist has been somewhat skeptical about the rest of the world’s apparent lack of skepticism, even before reading SCMP reports about unannounced outbreaks elsewhere in hard-hit Liaoning province, where guards placed to keep outsiders from entering affected villages warn passersby of human deaths within. A hodge-podge of conflicting information on outbreaks and human cases and a barrage of denials from various local officials (including one who was arrested for certifying the health of bird-flu-infected chickens), even after outbreaks have been officially announced gives Shanghaiist the unsettling feeling that the entire situation will inevitably blow up a la SARS 2003. And all of the laudatory international recognition for the way Beijing has handled bird flu thus far seems to completely ignore what really matters: the (questionable) accountability of local officials at the site of unfolding outbreaks, and how well-equipped they are to handle bird flu.

Two new outbreaks in Xinjiang province have been announced in Urumqi and Zepu, approximately 1,500 kilometers apart. Since the end of October, China has announced outbreaks in Anhui, Liaoning, Hunan and Hubei provinces, and also in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The latest outbreaks in Xinjiang are the 10th and 11th outbreaks China has announced in just a month.

Today, China also announced plans to vaccinate its entire poultry stock of 14 billion birds in one of its most ambitious attempts to prevent the spread of bird flu. But this news comes with the knowledge that heavily-hit Liaoning province, which has yet to control the spread of bird flu despite a 13 million bird cull, has largely blamed its ongoing struggle on widely-distributed, uncertified bird flu vaccines. From an SCMP story dated November 12:

Many farmers in Heishan county had used a vaccine produced by Inner Mongolia Jingyu Group -- a Shanghai listed company -- which offered little protection against the deadly disease. It said the company was given special approval to produce the vaccine last year by the Ministry of Agriculture due to the pressing market demand for H5N1 vaccines, but the vaccine was intended for testing in infected areas exclusively and it was not supposed to be sold.

The company issued a statement on Thursday saying its salesmen had smuggled the vaccine for sales in the market. After the outbreak the company's licence to produce veterinary medicine was suspended and the firm admitted some of the vaccine was sold to Heishan, although it said the amount remained small.

Just to put 14 billion birds in perspective, this number accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s entire poultry stock.

Also on Shanghaiist:
Still ‘finger lickin’ good’?
Shanghai might start producing Tamiflu
Paranoia will destroy ya
Sole Search: Bird flu cleaning Shanghai’s shoes
OK, now we’re worried about the bird flu

For most of you who read Shanghaiist, there is really no reason to worry about actually being in any situation where you are likely to catch bird flu from a sick bird of some type. You are lucky enough to be able to just follow some basic common sense guidelines: don't eat raw poultry products, wash your hands regularly and don't keep close company with bunches of birds. (Shanghaiist wishes such simple statements would suffice in panicked-client-demanded-reports on bird flu for our real job.)

If you happen to be involved in any sort of business related to poultry products, now would probably be a good time to be thinking of diversifying, divesting ... or coming up with some really amazingly clever advertising to convince people that eating chicken is still conceivable even when bird flu is spreading like wildfire throughout the world in a global pandemic:

KFC will have television commercials ready to reassure customers that its chicken is safe to eat if there is a bird flu outbreak.

"As our investors would hope, we are being proactive in preparing the materials in the event that we need to use them," Jonathan Blum, spokesman for KFC's parent, Yum Brands Inc., said of the spots expected to be shot soon.

Shanghaiist is curious to know exactly how KFC would decide when is the right time to pull these works of advertising magic off the shelf, and where these ads would air. The story indicates the ads only apply to the American market, but Shanghaiist seems to recall reading that the Asian markets are really the driving force behind the fried chicken chain. KFC has already posted significantly lower sales growth for the month of October in China, a number that we can't imagine is going to improve any with the rash of outbreaks throughout the country in the past few weeks. The company's stock has also fallen amid bird flu fears.

Shanghaiist wonders what kind of amazing advertising could possibly help KFC. Generally, logic and reasoning don't coincide with words like "pandemic" and "outbreak." We can't imagine people are going to be inclined to take a jaunt to their local KFC, regardless of where the chicken comes from or whether or not the chain claims to be able to fry the virus right out of those greasy, crispy chicken wings.

Related:
Why can't the Chinese press report on bird flu properly? (Danwei)
The 'True' Statistics About Avian Flu In China (ESWN)
Bird flu kills woman as Chinese suspect 'cured' (Irish Examiner)
China has its own version of bird flu drug (Reuters)

Also on Shanghaiist:
Shanghai might start producing Tamiflu
Paranoia will destroy ya
Sole Search: Bird flu cleaning Shanghai’s shoes
OK, now we’re worried about the bird flu

Shanghaiist's left shoulder is a little sore right now. Why? We got injected with a flu vaccine today. For free. And we didn't have to wait in line. (And no, we didn't get the shot from this guy.) We'd tell you where we went to get this shot, but we figure you don't feel like driving to Pennsylvania.

Have no fear, Shanghai may be home to many a flu shot soon. The AP is reporting that Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group has contacted Roche about manufacturing Tamiflu -- thought to be the "best defense against a possible flu pandemic." This news gave those worried that global supplies would fall short a dose of hope. (Although everything Shanghaiist has read suggests the global supply will most definitely fall short.)

The AP story also tells us that the rush to make more Tamiflu has upped the price of Chinese star anise (八角 bājiǎo or "eight-horn") -- a spiky spice that most living in China have almost choked on at one time or another -- by 14 percent to 4 yuan per kilogram. It's a key ingredient in Tamiflu ... and should not be confused with Japanese star anise -- that stuff will kill you.

Also on Shanghaiist:
Sole Search: Bird flu cleaning Shanghai’s shoes
OK, now we’re worried about the bird flu