Bird Flu Hatches in China

In 1997, Hong Kong was almost the birthplace of a disastrous pandemic. A strain of avian flu called H5N1 leaped the species barrier and infected 18 people, killing six, before the slaughter of the city's 1.4 million chickens helped stop the spread. Last week, alarm bells rang anew when a local 33-year-old man and his nine-year-old son contracted a similar virus. The father died of pneumonia Feb. 17, while the son remains in stable condition. Officials say the victims were probably infected through contact with chickens while visiting China's Fujian province, and that...