19 September 2013 (21:13 UTC-07 Tango 18 September 2013)/14 Dhu ‘l-Qa’da 1434/28 Shahrivar 1392/15 Xin-You (8th month) 4711

“…..prepare for a possible resurgence of H7N9…identify synergies of the human health, animal health and other sectors…”-Konuma Hiroyuki, UNFAO Assistant Director-General

Scientists with the Erasmus University Medical Center, in Netherlands, say the H7N9 virus has evolved to be passed from human to human.

The virus now clings to human mucous membranes in the nose and throat.  A few days before the announcement that H7N9 is now a human virus, the director of the U.S. CDC, Thomas Frieden, uttered these famous last words: “The only thing protecting us from a global pandemic right now is the fact that it doesn’t yet spread from person to person.”

The Netherlands study also showed that H7N9 replicates easily in pigs.

This news comes as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced two emergency projects in South East Asia, to stop the spread of H7N9 in farm animals.

Another study, published in the 21 August issue of Nature, confirmed that H7N9 originated in ducks and chickens.