WHO, UN issue bird flu warnings

Both the World Health Organization and the UN have issued warnings in regards to bird flu infection risks. With the Shanghai and Zhejiang governments taking strict measures to prevent more infections, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has advised people to stay away from both poultry and livestock.

There is currently no evidence that the H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted from one human to another. But according to the WHO, the virus can be inhaled by humans through dust.

4 of the 6 casualties of the H7N9 flu were in Shanghai.

The city is also where the new strain of avian flu was first detected, in a victim who died about a month ago.

Prof. Lu Hongzhou from Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center said, "Judging from the first patient's symptoms, I thought he was infected with a new influenza virus. We tested all the people who had close contact with him, but found no traces of the virus. I gave the patient a double dose of anti-viral drugs because his condition was critical. We also conducted a series of tests on the virus."

Professor Lu says that early on, symptoms of the H7N9 flu are like those of a common cold. But if the initial fever runs for more than five days, the patient may quickly suffer from respiratory failure. The incubation period of H7N9 infections is usually a week.

This 67 year-old man in Hangzhou died about a week after developing a fever.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned on Friday that the new virus is hard to detect in poultry. It recommends keeping all poultry and livestock away from living areas.