Despite Ban, Black Market for Live Poultry Growing in Guangzhou

By That's, February 28, 2017

With no signs of the avian influenza (H7N9) letting up and live poultry markets banned in various locales, people are resorting to "black markets" to get their live chicken fix.

Since a fresh outbreak of the H7N9 virus late last year, officials have shuttered hundreds of poultry markets in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan in attempts to stem human avian flu infections.

Authorities in Guangzhou intimated a five-year ban in 2015 that restricted buying and selling of live chickens in different parts of the city. The ban also requires wet market vendors to only sell chilled chickens killed and prepared at a central slaughterhouse.

But because Chinese taste buds find this type of chicken unpalatable, many seek out other sources of poultry in unsavory places. In Guangzhou, for example, poultry lovers on the prowl would look for a temporary boiler set up on the side street or alleys as the telltale sign that live chicken is available for sale. Some vendors hawk their goods from a van so they can make a quick getaway if inspectors close in on them.

According to a South China Morning Post report, Guangzhouers are paying roughly RMB60 per kilogram for the banned birds.

The number of deaths in China due to the H7N9 bird flu epidemic have been increasing recently, with an outbreak killing 79 people this past January — the most deaths that occurred in a single month since November 2013.

Contrary to popular belief, the virus is not transmitted merely by eating infected poultry (though limiting chicken and duck consumption for the time being might not be a bad idea).

Humans typically become infected after coming into close contact with infected birds (both alive and dead), or their environments. Touching infected bird mucus or droppings is also a surefire way to contract the illness.

First reported in March 2013, human infections with avian influenza virus (H7N9) have been found to follow a seasonal pattern, circulating at higher levels in cold weather. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the current risk to the public’s health is low, but “influenza viruses constantly change and it’s possible that this virus could gain the ability to spread easily and sustainably among people, triggering a global outbreak of disease (pandemic).”

[Image via Yahoo News]