Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Chinese find 1st evidence new bird flu spreads from person to person, though not easily

Washington Post:
LONDON
Excerpt:
-snip-
In the new study, Chinese researchers interviewed the family and close friends of a father and daughter both killed by H7N9 in eastern China to figure out how the virus might have spread between them. Both patients lived in the same household, were critically ill during the investigation and could not be interviewed.

The father, 60, was in charge of buying food for the family and bought six live quails before falling sick. His daughter, 32, rarely left the residential district where they lived and didn’t have any known contact with birds, except for two black swans raised by the property owners.

The daughter took care of her father when he became ill, without wearing any protective equipment. She fell sick several days afterward and died one month later. The bird flu viruses isolated from the father and daughter were nearly genetically identical.

Complete article:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-find-1st-evidence-new-bird-flu-spreads-from-person-to-person-though-not-easily/2013/08/06/328754b2-fee8-11e2-8294-0ee5075b840d_story.html

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