Bird flu may have been passed from son to father

Chinese authorities have today (January 10th) confirmed that a man who died of the human strain of bird flu last month passed the disease to his father.

However, they have also stated that transmission was due to close contact between the two families and not a viral mutation allowing the disease to be passed between humans.

The cases of the disease, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, saw a father diagnosed as suffering with the illness just days after his 24-year-old son had succumbed to the deadly virus.

"The initial judgment is that it was an infection from close contact," Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an told a news conference, Reuters reported. "It has no biological features for human-to-human transmission."

Adding that the father had since recovered from the condition, the spokesman also admitted that the authorities still did not know the cause of the initial infection.

China has now reported 27 cases of the human strain of bird flu, resulting in 17 fatalities.

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