Two people have died in China from a new strain of Avian Influenza that has never been transmitted to humans.  Both were from Shanghai and the deaths occurred over the past two months.

Health officials say an 87-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were stricken in February.  Both men died in March.  In addition, and 35-year-old woman from the east is in hospital in critical condition.

This is the first time this sub-strain of H7N9 avian influenza has crossed species into people.  Consequently, there are no vaccines for it.

China doesn’t just have the biggest human population; it has the world’s biggest poultry population as well.  And a lot of those people are living in close proximity to chickens, setting creating more possibilities of cross-species infection than had ever occurred in world history.