Mounting bird flu fears in China

Fears that several people in China and Thailand had been infected with bird flu appear to have been proved groundless, but the region’s anxiety mounted as officials warned of more human infections unless the spread of the disease was curbed.

“The situation right now is extremely grave,” said Jia Youling, China’s chief veterinary officer. He warned that it was only a matter of time before China recorded its first human infection after reporting three outbreaks among its vast poultry flocks over the past two weeks.