Kaleisha McPherson

Mrs.Gosselin

Environmental Science

(Date)

Avian Flu: Chinas Environmental Debacle

(HPAI) or avian flu has baffled multitudes in its strings of

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

existence throughout the centuries. Scientist continually baffled at its multiple strings that consist

of 16 H subtypes and 9 N subtypes (CNN Health). HPAI is an extremely infectious disease

which through a series of studies over time has been described as systemic; affecting the body as

a whole, to match its extremities in infection HPAI is a producer of an equally devastating

mortality rate of 60% in the humans infected (CNN Health).

Avian flu usually is found within aquatic bird life, which is why to discover its first official

recording in 1878 Italy as the Fowl Plaque,this due to it being discovered in the water fowl such

as duck, geese, etc. Though the one to officially report the discovery of this plaque, Perroncito,

described a disease that increased the mortality in their poultry not water fowl ( Swayne,D.E. ).

So the question that was at hand was how an aquatic disease was transferring over into domestic

poultry? Through observation, and study scientist were able to derive that the virus is able to be

passed through saliva, nasal secretions, and feces from an infected bird (CDC).Usually when

HPAI is discovered its eradicated, although it is a tedious process of quarantining and eradicating

the flock exposed to the disease, for example the outbreak in Pennsylvania 2015.Not only does

this way of handling the virus derives a given population with a scarcer food source,but also

lessens the biodiversity of the given area.

 One region that seems to have a constant problem with multiple strains of HPAI is China.

China has a relatively large population consisting of 1.3 billion-thats 146 people per one square

mile. Chinas ever growing population has surpassed the usual Eastern Asian population, which

is usually in a range of 25.2 million (FindTheData Graphiqs). With Chinas one-child policy

their annual growth rate percentage is 0.43%, which for some may appear to be negative but with

their already at large population it is a plus (CIA World Factbook). The topography of the vast

country varies having up to three different terrains:flat plains, desert zones, and mountain

ranges.With multiple terrains comes multiple climates, China has 6 climates which are: tropical,

subtropical, warm-temperate, temperate,cold-temperate, and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (China

Travel). Chinas population's diet mainly consist of rice, which in one way is convenient and

easy for them to grow due to the multiple warm climates they have. Though as previously stated

they have a massive population, this causes for a major limiting factor for they over produce rice.

With the overproduction of rice crops this leads to them stripping the soil of much needed

nutrients, emerging as a problem in the future. In addition China is a communist nation with a

large government, so if a citizen wanted to implement growing other produce they would be

unable to do to the elimination of private property under communism.

Now the strain of avian flu that China is facing is H7N9, a human strain of the avian flu

infection. The first reporting of this occurrence was 1997 Hong Kong , currently they are going

through there 5th human avian flu epidemic (WHO). This is caused by them consuming infected

meats such as their poultry or waterfowl. They farm rice in what is known as a paddy field

which are specially made to be under water, which makes it all the easier for waterfowl to easily

pass on the disease to their common poultry. According to the World Bank the poverty in China
is 6.5% so the normal containing and quarantining is hard to implement among the people. When

food is scarce people will consume whatever they can this behavior is what contributes to the

environmental health issue. With more than 40% of patients who contract the disease passing if

China does not realize their own faults in this environmental casualty then they risk the health of

their population (CDC).