In the aftermath of the SARS tragedy we were assued China was about to embark on a new course of Glasnost – openness and transparency. The scandal was unveiled in April of 2003, when we were all treated to the monumental press conference announcing the firing of the Beijing mayor and minister of health. It was the dawn of a new age.

Except for the fact that even then, as China aired its dirtiest linen in public in a scene of unprecedented frankness, there were still health risks that the state took pains to conceal, despite the potential harm such silence might pose to its citizens.

China revealed today that its first human death from bird flu was a soldier who died of the H5N1 strain in 2003, two years before the country first publicly acknowledged a human infection.

The confirmation showed that the virus was present in China before the outbreak of the virus was disclosed elsewhere in Asia and raised questions about Beijing’s ability to detect emerging diseases, as well as its transparency.

China’s Ministry of Health began tests on samples from the People’s Liberation Army private only after Chinese researchers published a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine in June saying that a 24-year-old soldier, who was admitted to hospital in November 2003 for respiratory distress and pneumonia and later died, had been infected with H5N1.

The man, identified only by his surname, Shi, was initially thought to have severe acute respiratory syndrome, but recent tests performed with the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the cause as bird flu.

The UN health agency called on Beijing to re-examine other pneumonia cases of unknown origin to ensure better transparency. But a Health Ministry spokesman said the 2003 case was not evidence of an outbreak then and said the Government had no plans to review other cases.

China publicly announced its first human case of bird flu last November, when the virus was sweeping through Vietnam and Thailand. China has reported 20 infections of humans, of whom 12 have died – not including the 2003 case.

Of course, Beijing is saying there’s nothing to see here, and we all should just move along.

Mao Qun’an, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said there was no need for alarm. ‘People shouldn’t panic. The country’s bird flu surveillance capability is much stronger now than it was two years ago.’

Just one simple question: Why should I believe him? Why should I believe anything he says?

Via the great CDT.