4-year-old bird flu 'carrier' worries China

[Robb]

Cabin attendants are seen on a thermographic imaging device after their arrival from Shanghai at the quarantine station at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo

(CNN) -- Doctors say the discovery of a 4-year-old carrier of the H7N9 bird flu virus who shows no symptoms of the potentially lethal virus is a worrying development that could make the spread of the infection more difficult to monitor.

The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said the boy was detected from a group of close contacts of the first infection in Beijing and the laboratory results showed the boy was an asymptomatic carrier of the disease.

(snip)

The discovery of the carrier has meant Beijing has notched up a gear in its monitoring efforts, extending its action from a passive 'syndrome surveillance' to a more active 'pathogen monitoring'.

This involves actively seeking out and targeting populations at risk from the disease.

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/world/asia/china-birdflu/index.html

[In_The_Wind]

1. Cross contamination has always worried me.

Health officials in China say there have been 77 confirmed cases of H7N9 and 16 confirmed deaths.