China's bird flu virus is still a mystery
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| illustration of bird flu. © 2013 Merdeka.com / Shutterstock / Steve Snowden |
Uncertainty is challenging the Chinese government to control the spread of H7N9 avian flu virus that has killed 17 people and 66 infections in the country, most of whom live along the eastern seaboard.
"For me, the biggest question is the relationship between the virus in birds and how to get to the man.'s Not clear," said Dr. Bai Chunxue, a leading respiratory experts in Shanghai who treat patients infected with the bird flu virus.
Bai, as reported thenews.com.pk (18/4), was researching a family infected with bird flu virus, which is comprised of a 87 year old man and his two sons. Surprisingly, all three patients had no contact with birds or poultry.
In a telephone interview, Bai claimed that this case is still a mystery to scientists the world. To understand how the H7N9 avian flu virus could spread without any contact with poultry, and China's international experts in collaboration with the World Health Organization conducted an investigation since last Friday (19/4).
Helen Yu, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in China, said that experts from various countries began arriving on Thursday (18/4), to visit laboratories and disaster areas in Beijing and Shanghai.
China announced the first known case on March 31, which immediately sparked concern among experts around the world because it is the first time the H7N9 strain of bird flu human infection. They fear the virus mutation and can spread from human to human.
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