Mystery Deepens on Possible Avian Flu Case in China in 2003

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. | The New York Times
June 24, 2006

Did China have a death from avian flu two years before it admitted having any human cases?

The mystery deepened yesterday, and the possibility was raised that someone had tried to block publication of that event from a prestigious American medical journal.

The New England Journal of Medicine reversed an announcement it had made two days before, now saying that the eight Chinese authors of a letter describing a man's death in 2003 from avian flu had insisted that they really did want it printed.

The timing of the death is important because scientists believe that the A(H5N1) avian flu virus had percolated in China's chickens for many years, but it was not until last November that the government admitted to having a human case; it has officially reported 19 cases and 12 deaths. In 2003, China covered up dozens of SARS deaths for months after the epidemic began there.

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