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Bird Flu Spreads to Beijing

By Stephanie Poulos | Update Date: Apr 14, 2013 03:59 AM EDT

The bird flu has spread to the Chinese capitol of Beijing, according to officials.

A 7-year-old-girl tested positive for the H7N9 bird flu, she is currently in stable condition at a hospital in Beijing. Officials said her parents live in Beijing's Shunyi district and are poultry sellers.

Beijing had closed all live poultry markets and also the banned the flying of racing pigeons, Xinhua agency said.

Authorities said the child's parents did not appear to have the disease. Experts are saying it does not appear to be contagious from person to person, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The H7N9 bird flu has already infected 44 people in China, 11 of which had died due to the infection.

Authorities reported five new cases on Friday, which have been in Shanghai or in the neighboring provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui, which is on China's eastern coastal region. This is the first that has been reported in northern China. Many of the reported cases involved people who had been in close contact with birds.

The girl was first sent to a hospital on Thursday then referred to a local disease-control center as a potential bird flu case on Friday.  Early Saturday morning she was confirmed to have the bird-flu, according to Beijing authorities. 

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