At least four more people and 70 per cent of poultry in Hong Kong have been exposed to a new strain of bird flu virus which infected two girls in March, it was announced yesterday.
But health officials insisted influenza A H9N2 posed 'no imminent threat' to people and medical experts stressed the chances of the virus causing an outbreak in humans were very slim.
There has been no new H9N2 human infection case since the virus of pure avian nature attacked two girls, aged one and four, in March.
Both infected girls recovered after running a high fever and showing typical flu symptoms.
Another strain of bird flu, H5N1, infected 18 people, killing six of them in 1997.
Studies revealed yesterday showed two per cent of 100 poultry workers tested were found to have antibodies to the H9N2 virus, compared with only 0.6 per cent of the 500 members of the general population surveyed.
