Live poultry markets can act as hotbeds for H5N1 bird flu, but simple measures such as disinfecting trucks, equipment and market space could help stop the virus from spreading, researchers said Monday. A team of French, British and Vietnamese researchers interviewed vendors at live bird markets in northern Vietnam and tracked how outbreaks could move as if via social network, even into remote areas.

The death toll from the H7N9 bird flu virus has risen to 27, state media said Thursday after a man died in central China's Hunan Province. The 55-year-old whose surname was given as Jiao died on Wednesday after receiving medical treatment, state news agency Xinhua said, citing local authorities. More than 120 people have been diagnosed with the virus since it was first reported in late March, with most cases confined to eastern China.

Shanghai, Apr 30 (EFE).- An 89-year-old man has died in Shanghai from bird flu, raising the death toll from the outbreak of the H7N9 strain of the disease to 24, press reports said Tuesday. A total of 13 people have died in the industrial metropolis of Shanghai alone. Health officials have registered 126 cases of bird flu in China, the press said. The latest victim had pneumonia and had been diagnosed with H7N9 bird flu two weeks ago. No new cases have been reported in Shanghai, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said.

China's premier on Sunday urged authorities to be vigilant against a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people, while saying that efforts to tackle the virus have so far been effective. Speaking during a visit to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Premier Li Keqiang warned people to prepare for any new developments amid fears H7N9 could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans. "Countermeasures have been effective so far, but the situation is still developing as new cases turn up," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.