An outbreak of influenza has closed one of China’s largest seafood markets.
More than two dozen people – mostly shopkeepers – have been hospitalized by the yet-to-be-identified virus that has been traced back to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhai. Chinese public health officials have linked the outbreak to the sale of birds and frogs in the market, according to the South China Morning Post.
Masked health workers in white jumpsuits moving in and out of the cordoned-off market were filmed by television crews over the past two days. The high-profile incident has put a spotlight on management and hygiene in China’s seafood markets.
Photos have emerged on social media of frogs – a delicacy in southern China – and rabbits being sold in some of the many kiosks selling seafood within the market, revealing that despite numerous food safety scandals in China in recent years, management of wet markets remains haphazard.
“Investigations are still being carried out and authorities cannot yet confirm what pathogen is causing this illness,” World Health Organization Senior Advisor Paige Snider told the South China Morning Post.
The city of Wuhan is a major logistics hub for China’s seafood trade in central China, and the virus hit the market at its busiest time of the year. The city is also central to the trade in freshwater species like crabs given its location in Hubei Province, at the heart of China’s freshwater crustacean industry.
Another seafood market in the city, the Baishan Wholesale Market, is often described as the country’s largest freshwater seafood market. It appears to be open this week.
Snider made a connection between the current outbreak the 2003 SARS crisis, which was linked to markets selling birds and other semi-wild species in southern China.
Photo courtesy of Atiger/Shutterstock
