Bird Flu: China Reports Second Death Due To Virus


Bird Flu fears are on the rise again thanks to reports that deaths in Asia are starting to pile up again. Cambodia has reported at least sixth people have died from the H5N1 virus.

The outbreak has spread to China, where numerous reports of infection have started popping up. The most populous country in the world is now saying that it has had a second person die from the disease.

Voice of America News is reporting that a 31-year-old man in the city of Guiyang has died from multiple organ failure stemming from the virus on Friday night.

This death follows that of a 21-year-old woman suffering from the disease died last Sunday. Chinese officials are reporting that both people often had close contact with birds.

The H5N1 virus actually comes from having contact with certain kinds of birds, the reason it has been named the Bird Flu. The New York Times points out that only 600 people have come down with the disease in the last decade.

The problem is that almost half the people who have become infected have died. This has led many researchers and public health officials to monitor the virus closely.

The big fear is that the Bird Flu will eventually morph into a strain that will become highly contagious among humans.

That mutation hasn’t come along just yet. Chinese officials had originally quarantined as many as 110 different people who had come into contact with the two victims.

Those people have since been released. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 10 cases of Bird Flu reported around the world. Last year there were only 32 cases around the globe.

For now, the hype surrounding Bird Flu has been bigger than the actual threat, but the fatality rate will keep this virus in the news and under close observation for quite some time.

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