News
New avain influenza strain in China
The World Health Organization says there is no evidence that a type of avian influenza which killed two men in Shanghai, China can be transmitted between people. The men, ages 87 and 27 fell ill in February with the H7N9 variant of the virus, a woman contracted the disease in March.
It is not known how the three people became infected. Reuters reports the men have died while the woman is in critical condition. These are the first known cases of the H7N9 variant infecting people. WHO representative in China, Dr. Michael O’Leary says at this point, these are three isolated cases.
In the last several weeks, more than 16,000 pig carcasses have been pulled from the rivers around Shanghai, O’Leary says while they are part of the investigation, they have not found anything which would link the dead pigs to the virus.
Ri-ight.
Of course there’s no connection.
And the water from Pig River is safe to drink, too.