Scientist: Poultry trade may be spreading deadly bird flu

Poultry workers moving to and from wet markets and farms may be responsible for the spread of the deadly H7N9 virus in China, says a virologist who’s working with the World Health Organisation to investigate the outbreak. University of Hong Kong clinical virologist Malik Peiris told CNN the closure of Shanghai’s poultry markets on April 6 had resulted in a sharp drop in the number of human cases in the city. “That is clear evidence that the poultry markets are the primary source of human infection,” he said. Peiris, who visited regions hit by the virus as part of a joint WHO mission last month, added that studies of earlier H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in Hong Kong had shown that the virus can move between live poultry markets and clean farms through contaminated cages and other exposed items, and this was a likely explanation of how the virus was being transmitted around China. “That’s...