New Delhi, Oct 27 : A Chinese study has found that pregnant women infected with the H5N1 bird-flu virus can pass the deadly disease to their unborn babies.
The study led by Gu Jiang, director of the School of Basic Medical Sciences affiliated to Peking University said that the finding does not mean that a global pandemic is near by.
"So far, no substantiated case of inter-human transmission has been observed. It largely depends on how the virus further mutates,” the China Daily quoted him, as saying.
In the study, tissues taken from the body of a 24-year-old pregnant woman killed by bird flu were examined.