If it's confirmed, these would be the first human cases outside China and Southeast Asia.

What's happened here is what we have already seen in Asia. These children were infected by infected poultry, so it doesn't change our assessment of risk for the general population in Europe.

It might be because children were home for the holidays, maybe playing with birds around the house, and sick birds are easier to catch.

We usually see our first confirmed cases in December, with peak activity in January [and into] early February.

This first confirmed case means we're more aggressively following up on the contacts we've had with suspected cases. We're not surprised to find a confirmed case, given our highly mobile population.

We must clarify that China has not been concealing any confirmed or suspected human case of bird flu since the first case occurred in November of last year.