Thailand, which was the world's fourth-largest exporter of poultry before bird flu hit, would be reluctant to abandon all hope of resuming exports.

ECONOMIST: Animal and human health

At first, almost all poultry that caught bird flu quickly sickened and died within a day or two.

ECONOMIST: Animal and human health

Restrictions are in place at a Suffolk poultry farm after a bird flu outbreak.

BBC: Bird flu found at Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk

On January 5, a 19-year-old Beijing woman died of bird flu after handling poultry, officials said.

CNN: China records its fourth bird flu death this year

Since first emerging in 1997 in Hong Kong, the bird flu has spread across poultry flocks in nine East Asian countries.

FORBES: A Killer Virus Spreads

Identifying human cases and isolating them quickly is important because the shortest route to a version of the disease that is dangerous to the whole of humanity rather than just vets and poultry farmers is simultaneous infection with both bird influenza and the human variety, and the exchange of genes between the two.

ECONOMIST: Bird flu and public health

Live bird markets are the traditional way that poultry is sold in China.

BBC: China closes Nanjing market over H7N9 bird flu

Shanghai authorities moved Friday to trim the city's bird population, ordering the closure of wholesale poultry markets and instructing vendors in smaller markets to immediately cull their remaining chickens.

WSJ: China Kills Market Birds as Avian Flu Deaths Rise

There had been no recorded cases of bird flu infecting people until an outbreak of H5N1 among poultry in Hong Kong in 1997.

ECONOMIST: Averting a global plague | The

"The challenge has to do more with genetics, and the right balance for this fast growing bird, " says Martin Humphries, Feed Sales Director for an English specialist poultry feed supplier.

CNN: The incredible, edible crayfish?