China has reported two human cases of bird flu in a man and woman more than 800 hundreds miles apart — amid growing concerns the virus is poised to spill over into people and cause a pandemic.
The 53-year-old woman from the Jiangsu province in eastern China tested positive last month for the H5N1 strain that has been devastating the world’s bird populations, according to the BNO news agency.
Meanwhile, Chinese health officials announced that a 49-year-old man in southern China’s Guangdong province tested positive for H5N6 after coming into contact with live birds.
Concerns about a potential spillover have been brewing in recent weeks after a Cambodian girl died from the virus and her father tested positive. Scientists on the ground said the strain they were infected with had mutations that made it better at infecting humans.