Bird-flu deaths climb to 5 in China

BEIJING - A middle-aged man who transported poultry for a living and another unidentified person have died from a new strain of bird flu, raising the death toll to five among 14 confirmed cases in China, the government and state media reported Thursday.

The 48-year-old man, who died in Shanghai, is one of several among the infected believed to have had direct contact with fowl. Until recently, the virus, called H7N9, was not known to infect humans.

The official Xinhua News Agency did not identify thefifth fatality, but said that person also died in Shanghai on Wednesday.

It said the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed Thursday that the H7N9 virus had been detected in pigeons at a market selling agricultural products in Shanghai.

It is not known how people are becoming sick with the virus, and health officials and scientists caution that there are no indications it can be transmitted from one person to another.

Scientists who have studied the virus’s genetic sequence said this week that the virusmay have mutated, spreading more easily to other animals and potentially posing a bigger threat to humans.

Guidelines issued Wednesday by the national health agency identify butchers, breeders and sellers of poultry, and those in the meat-processing industry as at higher risk.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 04/05/2013

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