China bird flu death sets off alarm

A man in Guangdong Province in southeastern China has died of bird flu, in China’s first case of this kind in 18 months. Doctors say he succumbed to multiple organ failure.

The dead man was a truck driver and had no direct contact with poultry. This raises a suspicion that human-to-human contagion is now possible.

All of the man’s known 120 or so contacts are under close medical surveillance.

(IF,RIAN)