Analysts said with more human infections by the bird flu, some leisure travelers might cut back their trips to China.
Since first emerging in 1997 in Hong Kong, the bird flu has spread across poultry flocks in nine East Asian countries.
The bird flu, H5N1, has the kill rate of over 60% in which 300 out of 500 infections resulted in death.
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Poor sanitation and sub-standard animal health control has been cited as the main reasons for China constantly coming down with the bird flu.
We have also had a few health scares to keep our minds occupied - the Bird Flu scare, fish (red-tides), beef, and pork.
The bird flu outbreak coincides with the tenth anniversary of the Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak that killed at least 349 people in China.
To make matters worse, the bird flu, an especially deadly strain, has recently been transmitted for the first time from person to person in Thailand.
But in the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, Thai doctors report two cases of apparent human-to human transmission of the bird flu.
If the bird flu virus were to be mutating into a form more easily transmissible among humans, the risk of a global pandemic would greatly increase.
Xinhua points out that the World Health Organization has not ruled out pigs as the carrier of the H7N9 virus despite official assurances that there is no link between the pigs and the bird flu outbreak.
The bird flu, so-called H5N1, has top epidemiologists across the world on edge because of its potential to mutate into a new strain that no one would be immune to and that could easily spread among humans.
The bird flu outbreak is also on the front pages of many Hong Kong newspapers and it coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak that killed at least 349 people on the mainland, triggering a global epidemic.
Flu viruses can swap genes with each other, so if someone carrying a human flu virus catches the new bird flu, the two strains could mingle inside the victim's body, creating a new, highly contagious and lethal human plague.
Turning to the H7N9 bird flu virus, the death toll rose to seven on Monday with the death of a 64-year-old man in Shanghai, Beijing Times reports.
Health authorities are testing a family infected by H7N9 in Shanghai for human-to-human transmission of the new bird flu strain, The Beijing News reports.
China reported three more cases of human infection of the H7N9 bird flu virus on Sunday, raising the total number of cases to 21 all in the eastern part of the country.
Two new cases of the deadly bird flu H7N9 were discovered in Shanghai yesterday, bringing the total in the country to 18, the government-published Shanghai Daily reported today.
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Another five new cases of the deadly bird flu H7N9 were found in China yesterday, increasing the total in the country to 43, the state-run Shanghai Daily Newspaper reported today.
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Four new cases of the deadly bird flu H7N9 were found in China yesterday, increasing the total in the country to 28, the state-run Shanghai Daily Newspaper reported today, citing Reuters.
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Since China reported the first human infections of the new bird flu virus, known as H7N9, on March 31, authorities have had to compete with the online rumor mill.
Over 16, 000 diseased pigs were dumped in Shanghai rivers in March, possibly causing the outbreak of bird flu in the first place.
When he first entered Number 10 he was rising high in the polls for the way he handled crises like the floods, bird flu and the attempted terror attacks in London and Glasgow.
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Six people have died after being infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus, according to Chinese state media Friday.
Many users of Weibo, China's version of Twitter, have questioned the government's efforts to deal with the H7N9 bird flu.
His microblog is among a number of sites that have been tracking the government's response to the new bird flu.
"The H7N9 bird flu is currently approaching, " Yang Yu, a commentator with state broadcaster CCTV, said in a post on his microblog.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese airlines, which were among the hardest-hit companies during the 2003 SARS outbreak, tumbled amid the bird-flu worries.
Eleven people have been detained for spreading online rumours about the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus in the past month, People's Daily says.
It is distinct from the H5N1 bird flu virus that has caused more than 360 deaths worldwide since it was found in humans in 2003.
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