Avian Flu

Just when you thought you could scratch bird flu off your list of things to worry about in 2009, the deadly H5N1 virus has resurfaced in poultry in Hong Kong for the first time in six years, reinforcing warnings that the threat of a human pandemic isn't over. India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks in December. During the same period, four new human cases -- in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia -- were reported to the World Health Organization.

Chinese health authorities closed poultry markets in a province surrounding Beijing today after a woman died of bird flu, the first such death in the country in almost a year. The 19-year-old woman died of the H5N1 virus after coming into contact with poultry in Hebei province. In parts of the province, poultry markets were closed and the sale of live birds stopped as workers in masks sprayed disinfectant.