Cases of Bird Flu in Humans Has Reach 60 By: Nina Bharadwaj

     Two more people in China have, unfortunately, been infected with the rare bird flu and happened to die over the weekend. The state media reported that the amount of H7N9 in humans has increased to 60 people. The Xinhua news agency said that the death of these two people takes the number of deaths to 13. Additionally, Shanghai's health officials have stated that there are now 24 cases, after three men were said to have the disease.

     This virus has also seemed to have spread outside of the country of China. This is the first time. Two new people were diagnosed in central Henan Province. This happened on Sunday. Also, a kid in Beijing was tested positive for the flu on Saturday.

     It is very rare to have this dangerous disease due to the fact that the H7N9 flu was normally found in birds. It hadn't affected people until around March. The World Health Organization (WHO) had stated that China has been diagnosed with a different type of H7N9, unlike the one it has had in the past. The WHO is still looking for the cause of this disease. On Saturday, the announced, "Investigators into the possible sources of infection and reservoirs of the virus are ongoing. Until the source of infection has been identified, it is expected that there will be further cases of human infection with the virus in China. So far, the WHO has not identified any human-to-human transitions.

     The World Health Organization thinks that poultry markets are a cause of the flu. These markets have become a key element in investigating the case. In fact, several cities in the eastern part of China have halted trading to try to stop the spread of H7N9.

     Many scientists in China have come up with the conclusion that the bird flu has originated from birds migrating from Eastern Asia that have combined with the Domestic Fowl near Shanghai.

     The New England Journal of Medicine said that this newly discovered bird flu has been investigated and appears to have certain characteristics that allow it to be adapted to infect humans. 

Analysis: The authors of this article are Melissa Gray and Paul Armstrong. They have written this article to inform us about a pandemic that is beginning to spread everywhere. This was written for all audiences because all of us, children and adults, from different countries should be cautioned of this flu so that we don't catch it and cause it to spread. The main idea of this article was that thirteen people out of 60 have died from bird flu, even though it is normally found in birds. Additionally, more cases of the bird flu have spread outside of China, even though the bird flu hadn't harmed anyone until last month. There was no bias in this article. It was all facts, with one quote from a reliable source.

I think this is just awful. It is just one more thing for all humans to worry about. Last week, I did an article about how cities are shutting down poultry markets, and I intentionally did another article about the bird flu because it is so horrible, and I want to know more about it. I want to know how it began and how is spreads and many other things about H7N9. I hope that a cure is found soon because if it has already begun to spread, then it will be soon when it spreads to the U.S, and we all become infected. I also hope that no human-to-human cased are found because then people will have to walk around not knowing the health of the person they are with or related to.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/14/world/asia/china-bird-flu/index.html?hpt=ias_c2