China reports two deaths from new avian virus

There are no vaccines against this new type of bird flu.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission said the deaths in Shanghai were caused by the H7N9 virus and are first cases of human infection by this avian virus.

This is the first time a human infection from H7N9 has been detected. Little research has been done on this relatively unknown bird flu.

The reported deaths were of an 87-year-old man took ill two weeks ago and died on March 4 while a 27-year-old man became sick in the last week of February and died March 10.

The third person, a 35-year-old woman from Chuzhou, Anhui province, is in intensive care in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

The NHFPC said it remains unknown how the three became infected, and experts said there are no signs that they contracted the disease from each other. There are also no signs of anyone in close contact with them being infected.

The World Health Organization is closely monitoring the situation in China.

WHO believes there is apparently no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and transmission of the virus appears to be inefficient, therefore the risk to public health would appear to be low.

Initial symptoms of the infection include fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.