A recent death from bird flu in a Chinese man was not the result of human-to-human transmission, the city’s health agency said. According to the Associated Press, the Shenzhen Disease Control Center reported that genetic analysis showed the virus was received directly from poultry.
“Though it is highly pathogenic to human beings, the virus can not spread among people,” the health agency said in a statement. “There is no need for Shenzhen citizens to panic.”
The man, a 39-year-old us driver named Chen, was hospitalized on Christmas Day with a fever that was confirmed to be bird flu on Saturday. It is still unknown how he came into contact with diseased poultry, though it was reported that two dead birds tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong a week previously.
The man’s death is the first reported case of the disease in humans in 18 months, the AP said. Bird flu infection in humans is rare and health officials are watching closely to ensure the disease does not become able to spread from human to human. According to the World Health Organization, 336 people already have died from 573 confirmed cases of bird flu since 2003. China bears much of the strain, suffering 26 of these deaths within its borders alone.
The last death in China was that of a 22-year-old pregnant woman in June 2010.
