Baby girl in Hong Kong infected with H9N2 bird flu strain

Hong Kong: Hong Kong on Tuesday confirmed a two-month-old baby girl was infected with the H9N2 bird flu strain, the fifth human case in the city since 1999, a government health official told reporters.

Thomas Tsang, controller for the Centre of Health Protection, said, "Today the Centre for Health Protection confirmed one human case of influenza H9N2 infection, affecting a two-month-old baby girl," adding the infant was in a stable condition.

While countries around the world may be preparing for a possible H5N1 bird flu pandemic, a team of researchers said in August 2008 that the H9N2 also poses a threat to humanity.

H9N2, a virus seen mostly in birds, has previously infected at least four children in Hong Kong, causing mild illness, and is found in birds, pigs and other animals in Europe and Asia.

The team of scientists from the University of Maryland, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and elsewhere tinkered with the virus and tested it in ferrets, animals whose biology is very close to humans when it comes to flu.