Taiwan confirms world's first human infection of avian flu

A 20-year-old Taiwanese woman has been infected with the H6N1 avian influenza virus, the first time the flu strain has been reported in humans anywhere in the world, Taiwan health authorities said Friday, cited by the Taipei-based Central News Agency reported. The patient, who lives in central Taiwan and works at a breakfast shop, developed mild pneumonia in mid-May, according to Yang Ching-hui, a division chief at the Center for Disease Control. "She has never been abroad and has no history of contact with poultry," Yang was quoted as saying in Taipei. The center determined that the woman's virus was the H6N1 strain after further examining her respiratory samples and looking at their genetic sequence. The center later found that 36 people had come into contact with the patient, and four of them had flu-like symptoms, Yang said. "But after examining them, we found that none were infected with the H6N1 virus," she said. H6N1 is a low pathogenic bird flu strain and is commonly found in poultry, and there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission in this case.