A 9-month-old girl was infected with H9N2 _ a less virulent strain of bird flu _ in Hong Kong and was being isolated at a hospital, health officials said Tuesday. Before getting sick on March 4, the baby was taken almost to a food market that sold live poultry, The Associated Press quoted Thomas Tsang Ho-fai of the Center for Health Protection as saying. Officials suspected she was infected by birds at the market, he said. H9N2 is different bird flu subtype from the more virulent H5N1, which has killed at least 169 people worldwide. «The baby's case is not that serious, and there's no serious indication that there was human-to-human infection,» Tsang said. Hong Kong reported two cases of the mild strain in 1999 and one in 2003, he said. The patients were children who all recovered, he said. The most recent case returned home after spending five days in the hospital, but the child was put into isolation after her samples tested positive for H9N2, said Tsang, adding that the case was confirmed Tuesday. Officials were taking more samples from the market and family members, he said.
