The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging hospitals to accelerate advanced testing of people they suspect may have bird flu.

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.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released an advisory recommending clinicians expedite subtyping of type A influenza samples from hospitalized patients, particularly individuals in an intensive care unit.

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 increasing infections in humans.