China Bird Flu Pandemic: Deaths Now at 16, Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicines Fly Off the Shelves

The death toll from the new avian influenza A H7N9 in China has now reached 16, with the number of infected people likewise rising to 77 cases, all in just two weeks' time.

The latest two deaths came from Shanghai.

International medical and disease experts, including Australia's Anne Kelso, World Health Organisation's flu research centre director, have been flying into China to scrutinise the source of the virus as well as kill all possible transmissions.

This, as China's populace ran out of herbal remedies to curb the escalating health menace. Chinese people have been hoarding ban lan gen, or blue root, a popular herb since scientists and health experts have yet to discover the source of the seemingly proliferating, much more create a vaccine for it.

Pharmacies were found restocking shelves of ban lan gen daily to keep up with demand.

"Chinese people associate ban lan gen with anti-virus," Shen Jiangang, from the University of Hong Kong's school of Chinese medicine, was quoted by Bloomberg. "So when they hear about bird flu, they immediately think it might be effective to protect themselves although there is no experimental evidence."

Face masks, now selling 10 times before the announcements on the new avian influenza A H7N9 infections came up, hand sanitisers and other immediate remedies that are available over-the-counter at medical pharmacies were likewise being hoarded.

China has put up posters urging people to be cautious about spreading the virus.

"Earlier in the year, most of the increased orders from China were because of the air pollution," Francis Chu, inventor of the totobobo face mask, told Bloomberg. "Sales are still increasing, but now it's because of worries about bird flu."

In China there is enhanced surveillance of humans, poultry and animals, there is the development and sharing of treatment protocols and hopefully there will be anti-viral drug treatment available for severe cases," Mr Kelso told the Burnett Institute.

"We're worried about this outbreak but at the moment we don't know how worried we need to be. We just need to be ready for the possibility that it will spread outside the immediate area."

"The successful control depends on strong global co-operation between all of us as scientists, public health agencies and governments."

The new avian influenza A H7N9 was believed to have been caught by people who have had direct contact with poultry. The theory has cost China's poultry industry to lose some $1.6 billion.