H1N1 Outbreak in Chinese Army

Cluster outbreaks of the H1N1 swine flu have been increasing in China’s army, according to the director of the Health Bureau of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) logistics department, Zhang Yanling, on Dec. 2.

Fifty one cluster outbreaks, some involving hundreds of people, were recorded in a report published by the Chinese regime’s Ministry of National Defense, and this was confirmed by several Chinese military hospitals on Dec. 11.

“I’m very busy. At the Emergency Care Department we treat 30 to 40 patients every day,” said a doctor at the Emergency Care Department of Guangzhou Military General Hospital by phone. “The severe cases are basically fever cases. We just give them IV drips to reduce their fever.”

Another doctor from Guangzhou Military General Hospital said the hospital’s fever clinic treats 40 to 60 patients every day, one-quarter of which are military personnel. “Most of the military people are from Guangzhou military area,” the doctor said. “They are often accompanied by their camp doctors.”

Jinan Military General Hospital, located in China’s coastal Shandong Province, treats 50 to 60 fever patients per day with over half from the military. “The military patients are mostly from local troops,” a doctor said. “Those sent to our hospital are the sickest patients selected by the troops’ own clinics.”

The doctor said the hospital examines the patients for H1N1, and transfers the confirmed patients to No. 456 Military Hospital, one of the military’s 60 appointed H1N1 treatment hospitals.

None of the doctors contacted said they knew what the death toll was.

“We don’t know. We are just a screening station for fever,” said a doctor from Chengdu Military General Hospital. “The confirmed patients are required to be transferred to No. 547 Hospital where they are being quarantined and observed, and after that they do not reveal any specific information to us.”

He said No. 547 Hospital, a hospital designated to treat H1N1 patients, receives four to five “severe” patients each day.

Read the original Chinese article