Deadly Bird Flu Studies Continue After Second Fatality in China

Bird flu, the strain of influenza known has H5N1, has claimed the life of a man in China. He has become the second fatality of the virus this year.

The 31-year-old man died in a hospital in the city of Guiyang on Friday, according to the Guizhou province health department. Although a 21-year-old woman died from the virus earlier this month, officials reported that there were no other cases of bird flu in the province.

The H5N1 virus spreads from birds to people, which is how it earned its name "bird flu." Although it can be deadly, officials have yet to find a case where the virus spreads from person to person. Both of the latest incidents, for example, involved people being in close contact with birds. China has encountered outbreaks of the virus before--25 cases total between 2003 and 2009--because it has the world's biggest poultry population. In addition, many of the chickens that residents keep live in close proximity to humans, which aids the spread of the virus. In fact, separate outbreaks among birds last year in the northern region of Ningxia and the remote northwestern region of Xinjiang helped prompt massive culls of chickens.

While this virus doesn't spread very quickly, officials are afraid that it could possibly mutate and be able to be transferred between people. In order to combat this possibility, U.S. health officials have announced plans for scientists to move forward with controversial research on the deadly bird flu. A new policy, released on Thursday by the National Institutes of Health, requires that research aimed at making the virus more dangerous for the purpose of lab studies would now be subject to a heightened level of review. Scientists would have to share any discoveries about how the virus might gain the ability to spread easily among humans with other scientists and the public.

While research is ongoing, health officials are continuing to monitor any outbreaks that occur.