Bird Flu Center

China has denied covering up human bird flu cases after a U.S.-based newspaper said local officials may be hiding suspected infections from the central government and that the country’s death toll could be higher than the 12 reported.

“We must clarify that China has not been concealing any confirmed or suspected human case of bird flu since the first case occurred in November of last year,'’ Ministry of Health spokesman Mao Qun’an said in an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency published late Friday.

It was a rare official response to reports by foreign media.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, said Thursday that local Chinese health officials “have failed to report possible human cases of bird flu to the central government,'’ raising concerns that more people than reported may have contracted the disease.

China has reported 18 cases including 12 deaths.

The Journal did not give any more details but cited the source as saying that the central government was “quite upset from receiving information late from local officials.'’

Mao said every human case of bird flu in China has been announced as soon as it is confirmed but acknowledged that most local hospitals were slow in reporting confirmed bird flu patients to Beijing.

“Therefore, we must first raise their awareness. That is a priority,'’ he said.

Experts fear that the H5N1 virus may mutate into a form easily passed between humans and spark a pandemic. 

According to World Health Organization figures, 113 people have died worldwide, mostly from handling sick or infected poultry.

Mao said medical services are inconsistent across China, making it difficult to track outbreaks.

He said the health ministry has been urging local authorities to step up reporting, testing and screening pneumonia of unknown causes, and to be very cautious in ruling out bird flu.

China was accused of covering up an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003. SARS eventually killed 774 people worldwide.