life - 300 Chinese died from bird flu, scientist

China has been praised officially for dealing with the bird flu for not repeating the mistakes it made a few years ago, when government officials tried to hide SARS for the outside world. Not true, says a Japanese scientist, Masato Tashiro, in the New Scientist today, based on information he got from his Chinese colleagues. Threehundred people have died from the virus, seven in human-to-human transmission.

He says he was given the information in confidence by Chinese colleagues who have been threatened with arrest if they disclosed the extent of the problem.

Apart from the 300 deaths, Tashiro said 3,000 people have been put into isolation. The New Scientist has a reputation of sometimes blowing stories out of proportion, but the references to experts and German newspapers look pretty sound. If this story proves to be true, it will take about a week for China to change into a state of panic.

Update I: Scientist clarifies report
Masato Tashiro has put some new light on the figures as quoted by the New Scientist. The story is not true without reservation.

Update II: Here is the original report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Not surprising a misunderstanding arose from that report.