(Image Source: Flickr/Katie Brady)

BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY 

ANCHOR ANTHONY MARTINEZ 

A bus driver in southern China passed away Saturday, in the country’s first case of bird flu in 18 months. Xinhua broke the story.
 

“The 39-year-old man surnamed Chen died of multiple organ failures ..., the Department of Health of Guangdong said in a statement. Chen … tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus in ... Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong[.]”

According to the BBC, after the news broke, health officials in Hong Kong were quick to calm the city’s residents.

“The city is particularly fearful of pandemics, not only due to its dense population … but because of the city's health history. … in 1996, Hong Kong was the site of the world's first cases of mutated bird flu affecting humans. Six people died. In 2003, nearly 300 people died from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).”

The same day Chen was hospitalized, a dead chicken in Hong Kong tested positive for H5N1 — prompting authorities to slaughter 17,000 chickens in the city. Chinese officials say Chen had no recent contact with poultry. So — how he contracted the disease is still a mystery. (Video: KPTV)

Scientists are now studying ways that bird flu can transmit among humans. Chen’s death comes at the heels of recent ethical debates about whether scientists should publish data on lab-grown, highly contagious flu strains -- over fear the disease could be weaponized. KGO has the details.  

“...the National Institutes of Health said that the journal Science should not publish recent findings about avian flu research, that study describes how scientists created a deadly version of the avian flu in a lab — that strain of avian flu could be transmitted between humans. The scientific community fears censoring data keeps legitimate researchers from learning more about the disease.”

And finally, the New York Times explains the scope of the deadly virus.

“The H5N1 virus passes easily among birds and becomes more active during cooler periods of the year. It rarely infects humans, but when it does, the virus has a 60 percent mortality rate, scientists say. … The World Health Organization says 573 people have been infected worldwide with H5N1 since 2003, and 336 have died.”

In August, the United Nations warned of a possible resurgence of the virus, saying there may be a mutant strain spreading among migrant birds in Asia.