More samples tested H7N9 positive in Shanghai

BEIJING - China's agricultural authorities said Friday the infectious H7N9 virus has been detected in another 19 samples collected at the same marketplace in Shanghai, as the country reported its sixth death from the bird flu infection.

Eight of the 19 samples were collected from seven chickens and the surroundings at the same marketplace where the strain of the H7N9 virus was detected in a pigeon sample on Thursday, according to the test results by  the national avian flu reference laboratory under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The other samples containing the deadly H7N9 virus were collected from two marketplaces selling agricultural products in the neighboring Minhang District of Shanghai.

After gene sequence analysis, the national avian flu reference laboratory concluded that the strain of the H7N9 virus found on those 19 samples was highly congenetic with that found on a pigeon on Thursday.

The ministry has ordered Shanghai to shut down the marketplace and cull all live poultry there.

Shanghai has suspended the trading and imports of live poultry and more than 20,000 live poultry have been slaughtered.

Another patient infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus was reported in eastern Zhejiang Province on Friday, raising the death in China to six.