Shanghai officials last night killed all the birds in a local market and susended the sale of live birds after detecting a virulent new strain of bird flu that has taken six lives, the AP reports this morning.
Fourteen people have taken sick, many critically, over the past week.
Authorities say there is no evidence that the illness is spreading from person to person, but rather through direct contact with infected birds.
The current strain of bird flu seems to be affecting people more than birds, unfortunately, as many birds show no apparent ill effects even though they carry the disease. That will make the outbreak harder to control, authorities acknowledged.
The last epidemic of bird flu killed 360 people, mostly those in close contact with birds, in 2003.
