WHO takes new look at avian flu diagnostics

Executive Summary

The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to issue new diagnostic guidelines for avian flu, after Viet Nam concluded that the death of two children around a year ago may have been due to an atypical and more virulent form of the disease. The situation has prompted concerns that similar cases may until now have gone unnoticed and that the virulence of the virus, its capacity to affect the human body and, ultimately, the risk of human-to-human transmission may all have been underestimated significantly.