China confirms 3 cases of bird flu in humans.

China has confirmed its first three human cases of bird flu, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.
The ministry of health said two cases were registered in the central province of Hunan and one in Anhui in the east, Xinhua said.

The brief announcement did not give any further details.

BBC

Two cases were confirmed in the central province of Hunan and one in the eastern province of Anhui, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Article

That's three reported. And a wide geographical distance between the cases.

Very concerning.

what is more disturbing is the fatality rate... from what i remember, higher then even ebola or marburg

I read from two different sources some information that isn't covered in the news. Most interesting was that the flu cannot be directly transmitted from bird to human. It has to go from bird to pig (or similar) to human. Because these are raised together in China, that is where many strains of flu originate.

One of the articles also stated that the ten or so people who died from Avian Flu handled poultry directly, although this seems to contradict the earlier statement that the flu must pass through piggies first.

Anyone have more info on this?


[edit on 11/17/05 by Galactic Shuffler]