The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging health care workers to accelerate bird flu testing for patients hospitalized with flu symptoms.

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

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging health care workers to accelerate bird flu testing

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday urged clinicians and laboratories to test for the bird flu within 24 hours in people hospitalized with influenza, as part of its efforts to tackle the ongoing infections in humans.

CDC officials say medical professionals are seeing more patients whose illness cannot be traced back to an infected animal or bird.

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.