The outbreak of a new type of bird flu in China poses a "serious threat" to human health, but it is still too soon to predict how far it will spread, experts have said.
Of the 126 people known to be infected so far, 24 have died, with many more still severely ill in hospital.
The H7N9 virus has not, however, yet proved able to spread between people - which limits its global threat.
The threat should be "treated calmly, but seriously", researchers advised.
There is concern over both the pace and severity of the outbreak.
There has been a relatively high number of known infections since the first case was detected in April.
Prof John McCauley, the director of a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centre in the UK, said: "It is unusual to get these numbers."
Of those infected, a fifth died, a fifth recovered and the rest are still ill. The infection results in severe pneumonia and even blood poisoning and organ failure.
"The WHO considers this a serious threat," said Prof McCauley, "but we don't know at this stage whether this is going to spread from human to human."
Prof Jeremy Farrar, a leading expert in bird flu and the director-elect of one of the world's largest research charities, the Wellcome Trust, had the same assessment.
"Whenever an influenza virus jumps across from its normal host in bird populations into humans it is a cause for concern," he said.
Often in pandemics older people have some immunity as they have lived longer and have been exposed to similar viruses before.
However, in this outbreak the ages of those infected ranges from two to 81.
Prof Farrar said: "That suggests there truly is no immunity across all ages, and that as humans we have not seen this virus before.
"The response has been calm and measured, but it cannot be taken lightly."
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