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From: "NewScientist.com Newsflash" <newscientist@processrequest.com>
Subject: NEWSFLASH: Early human bird flu death uncovered in China
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 08:53:46 -0500
NewScientist.com - NEWSFLASH
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Early human bird flu death uncovered in China
A man died of H5N1 flu in Beijing in November 2003 - two full years
before China admitted any human cases of H5N1. The death of the
24-year-old from bird flu came months before China even admitted
H5N1 was circulating in its poultry. The man was tested for
respiratory illness because of concern in the wake of the SARS
epidemic.
The case suggests that, as scientists have long suspected, there
have been many more human cases of H5N1 flu in China than have been
reported, and for a longer time. The more human cases there are, the
more chances the virus has to evolve into a human pandemic strain of
flu.
The Chinese scientists who reported the finding unsuccessfully to
withdraw their paper from publication in the "New England Journal of
Medicine" at the last minute on Wednesday.
Click on the link below for the full story on NewScientist.com/news:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9388-early-human-bird-flu-death-uncovered-in-china.html Science and technology news and features updated daily at
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