This Map Shows The Spread Of A Deadly New Bird Flu Strain Terrifying Everyone In China

In China, people are dying from bird flu. Worryingly, it's not the H5N1 bird flu that we'd heard of before — it's a new strain, H7N9, that hasn't infected humans before.

So far at least six people have died from H7N9. The Google Map below shows all the known cases of the spread of the new strain.

The map comes via George Chen, an editor at the South China Morning Post.

• Red shows a H7N9 deaths
• Blue shows a confirmed H7N9 infection.
• Pink shows cases of different strains.

View H7N9 map in a larger map

The scope of the map is worrying in itself, but what's more worrying is what's not on it.

H7N9 is almost certainly under-reported — the symptoms described by the World Health Organization ("severe pneumonia" and "fever, cough, and shortness of breath") are far from unique, and those who suspect themselves of having it may have economic reasons for not going to authorities, as China expert Victor Shih tweeted earlier this week:

In Shanghai the outbreak has lead to a mass cull of birds. However, the real worrying thing today is one indication that H7N9 can be spread between humans.