China reports human-to-human bird flu transmission

Chinese doctors have reported that human-to-human transmission likely occurred in a small family cluster of H5N1 avian flu cases in China late last year.

A 52-year-old man from Jiangsu province fell ill with the virus after helping care for his son, 24. The younger man died from his infection Dec. 2 but the father recovered.

In an article published electronically by the British journal The Lancet on Tuesday, Chinese doctors reported that molecular analysis showed that viruses from the two men were virtually identical. They were fully avian viruses, meaning they hadn't swapped genes with any human flu viruses or viruses from another mammal.