Pandemic fears grow as hospitals 'overflow' with evolving infection

Doctors in New York are being urged to test hospitalized patients for bird amid growing concerns over human-to-human spread.

The state's health department issued an alert to physicians on February 3 telling them to test people with type A influenza for the H5N1 strain 'within 24 hours of admission'.

Type A is a family of influenza viruses that includes several strains, including the one that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic and H5N1 which is currently tearing through dairy and poultry farms in the US.

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