4-year-old whose father has bird flu also infected

(REUTERS/Pichi Chuang)

BEIJING – Chinese health officials say the 4-year-old son of a man infected with a new strain of bird flu has also caught the virus.

Shandong province's health department says there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and that the boy is in stable condition at a hospital.

The Jinan Times newspaper says the boy's 36-year-old father had no direct contact with poultry, but that the family lives near a market that sells live poultry.

The H7N9 virus has infected 126 people in China, killing 24 of them.

Experts are watching it closely for any sign it could spark a pandemic, but say so far there is no evidence it can spread easily among people. They believe infections are caused by some kind of contact with sick birds.