A new bird flu, H7N9, is circulating with 14 confirmed cases with 6 being fatal. The big problem with H7N9 is it is unknown how people are getting infected. There is no confirmed cases of human to human transmission and exposure to infected poultry is the most likely cause. This problem is similar to the H5N1 flu that has killed 371 people since 2003. The CDC is planning on creating a vaccine for the flu in the form of a seed and first testing it out on ferrets. If all goes well in the next few months they plan to ship the seed vaccine to china to administer to their domesticated poultry. However, it is unsure how long this will take so the window of opportunity to stop this disease before it becomes catastrophic is small. The Chinese bird flu has caused such an epidemic for China's surrounding states that some are banning imports of Chinese poultry and urging people who fly internationally to report all flu symptoms. Hopefully this disease can be maintained before an outbreak occurs similar to the swine flu of only a few years ago.
McNEIL, D. G., J., & Jacobs, A. (2013, Apr 05). C.D.C. work on vaccine for china flu has begun. New York Times. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1323778968?accountid=44854
By: Adam Sehr
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