Thursday, November 28, 2013 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) For the first time ever, the H6N1 bird flu has turned up in a human being, a 20-year-old Taiwanese woman who was hospitalized earlier this year after she developed a high fever, cough and shortness of breath. According to the Associated Press (AP), the woman somehow came down with the virus, which had previously been isolated to birds, even though she had not come into contact with any live fowl.
The woman, whose name has not been publicly released, worked in a deli and nowhere near live birds, which has left investigators with more questions than answers as to how she developed the disease. After symptoms began to emerge, the woman underwent tests that came back positive for H6N1. However, some of her close friends and family members who came down with similar symptoms not long after tested negative for the virus.
Details of the woman's story were published in a recent release of the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Researchers from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control explain how the abnormalities of the event illustrate the "unpredictability of influenza viruses in human populations." The findings also suggest the imminent importance of conducting further research into how this and other bird flu viruses are suddenly able to pass to humans, they say.
