TOPSHOT - Volunteers from the Civil Aid Service (CAS) wearing protective clothing take part in a chicken cull demonstration as part of an emergency response exercise in Hong Kong on May 21, 2017. Some 1000 CAS members took part in a two-day exercise to test their deployment and search and rescue capabilities during an emergency. / AFP PHOTO / DALE DE LA REY (Photo credit should read DALE DE LA REY/AFP/Getty Images)
The new form of bird flu has been dubbed ‘Disease X’ (Picture: AFP)

A new form of lethal bird flu which has a 38% death rate has been found in China.

The new pathogen, called ‘Disease X’, could be as deadly as the 1918 Spanish Flu which killed nearly 100 million people.

Deputy chief medical officer for England professor Jonathan Van-Tam told The Telegraph that ‘virus H7N9’, which is currently spreading through poultry farms in China, could spark a global catastrophe.

He said: ‘[H7N9] is an example of another virus which has proven its ability to transmit from birds to humans.

‘It’s possible that it could be the cause of the next pandemic.’

In China, the fatal pathogen has killed 623 of the 1,625 people which have been infected.

At present the virus cannot be passed from person to person, yet experts believe it is only three mutations away from being able to spread only from human contact.

Symptoms of ‘Disease X’ include a high fever, cough and shortness of breath which can then develop into pneumonia.

NAFFERTON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Officials from the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) dispose of culled ducks at a farm near Nafferton, East Yorkshire where a strain of bird flu has been confirmed on November 18, 2014 in East Yorkshire, England. Health officials will cull 6000 ducks and have imposed a six mile exclusion zone to contain the spread, although any risk to public health is said to be very low. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Bird Flu can spread to humans from contact with contaminated birds (Picture: Getty Images)

Once the disease has established itself, those infected develop acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock and organ failure.

According to the World Health Organization, older people, pregnant women and those with existing health problems are most in danger of dying from the virus.

Bird flu can spread to people when they have direct contact with the infection, for example if a human touched dead or live contaminated birds, their droppings or secretions from their eyes.

It’s also a risk to visit live bird markets in countries that have suffered from avian flu outbreaks.

According to the NHS, ‘close and prolonged contact with an infected bird is generally required for the infection to spread to humans.’

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