The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitals treating people for the flu should test them for avian influenza within 24 hours.

Doctors should use infection control measures if a hospitalized patient has suspected, probable, or confirmed H5N1, putting the patient in an airborne infection isolation room with negative pressure, and using standard, contact, and airborne precautions with eye protection such as goggles or a face shield.

By Leah Douglas and Tom Polansek (Reuters) -People hospitalized for flu should be tested for bird flu within 24 hours, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday, in an expansion of the agency's efforts to tackle ongoing infections in humans.

The CDC is calling for expanded testing of bird flu after a child in California tested positive for the virus despite no known contact with animals.

CDC officials say they extended the guidance now because they are seeing more H5N1 patients whose illness they cannot track back to an infected bird or cow.

We last spoke in April, after a dairy worker became infected with bird flu. At the time, you described your level of concern about bird flu as “medium.” How would you describe your level of worry now?