Two Shanghai Men Die from Unusual Bird Flu

Two men in Shanghai have died after contracting a strain of bird flu that was never seen in humans till date, reports BBC.

According to the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission, two men aged 87 and 27 contracted the virus strain in the month of February and died the following month. A 35-year-old woman who is a resident of Chuzhou city near Anhui Province is also said to have contracted the virus and is currently in a very critical stage.

Commission officials have recognized the cause as H7N9, which is a strain of avian flu and has never been detected in any human till date.

The victims showed symptoms of fever and cough, which later developed into pneumonia. But how the three victims got infected with the virus remains a mystery till date. There is no sign of infection in those people who maintained close contact with the victims.

Reports according to the New Zealand Herald state that H7N9 is a low pathogenic strain that cannot be contracted by humans easily.

According to Timothy O'Leary, the regional agency spokesman, China is being closely monitored by the World Health Organization.

"There is apparently no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and transmission of the virus appears to be inefficient, therefore the risk to public health would appear to be low," O'Leary was quoted as saying in New Zealand Herald.

H5N1 is another strain of bird flu that caused an overwhelming majority of human deaths across Asia in the year 2003.

Apparently, there are no vaccines developed to fight against the H7N9 virus.