Bird Flu Threatens Shanghai Motor Show... Again

11 years, 7 months ago - 12 April 2013, Autoblog
Bird Flu Threatens Shanghai Motor Show... Again
We're less than two weeks from this year's Shanghai Motor Show, and word has it the number of cases of H7N9 Bird flu have increased significantly in the areas around Shanghai.

ChinaAutoWeb.com reports a total of 24 cases, and seven deaths have been reported in the city and surrounding regions, forcing government officials to cull thousands of birds, close live poultry markets and remove pigeons from public spaces. The precautions come despite the fact that doctors insist there's no evidence of "inter-human transmission" of the virus – perhaps they missed the winged specimen above?

In 2003, the Shanghai Motor Show closed its doors three days early due to the outbreak of the H5N1 virus strain, which killed more than 360 people worldwide. Before organizers shuttered the event, visitors and show professionals donned face masks in an attempt to protect themselves from infection. The last year Shanghai hosted the motor show in 2011, the event drew an estimated 7 million visitors.