First case of H3N8 bird flu in humans seen in China

A new alarm signal sounded Tuesday in China, after confirming the first infection in people around the world of bird flu H3N8.

According to the Chinese National Health Commission (NHC) in a statement, the infected was a 4 -year -old boy infected in Zhumadian city, in central Henan province, after entering interaction with chickens which he raised in his house, located in a place where they also lived wild ducks.

The younger had fever and other flu symptoms on April 5 and then hospitalized. “On the 24th, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention tested the patient sample sent from Henan province and the result was positive for H3N8 avian influenza virus,” they officially reported.

The health authority clarified that Person-to-person delivery is unlikely. It’s “a single transmission between species, and the risk of large-scale transmission is low,” he explains, adding that tests of the child’s close human contact did not detect “abnormalities.”

“This virus has been seen in horses, dogs and birds around the world, but a case has never been recorded against a person. This is something unique and the risk of contagion is low, ”the institution added about a strain that has been in circulation since 2002, after appearing in North American waterfowl.

In addition, he suggested that the population stay away from dead or sick birds and seek immediate treatment in cases of fever or respiratory symptoms.

Avian influenza occurs primarily in wild and domesticated birds, but cases of human-to-human transmission are very rare.

In 2012, the H3N8 strain was blamed for the deaths of more than 160 seals off the northeast coast of the United States, after causing pneumonia in animals.

In China, the first infected with covid-19, a virus that has kept humanity in suspense for more than two years, was also identified.

another strain

What was identified in that Asian country was a different variant from what was observed by U.S. health officials in March. In that case, it was an extremely deadly type of bird flu that devastated poultry farms along the East Coast and the Midwest, but posed no danger to humans.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they will monitor people exposed to domestic and wild species infected with H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that easily spreads to birds.

Since February, the H5N1 virus has been detected in commercial and backyard flocks in at least 17 states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making it the worst bird flu outbreak since 2015, when they were cut. o Nearly 50 million birds died. .

The spread of the disease is mainly associated with the migration of wild birds that fly in domestic flocks and transmit the virus through their droppings.

The H5N1 and H7N9 strains of avian flu seen in 1979 and 2013 were responsible for the majority of human disease cases due to avian influenza, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

With information from EFE, AFP and ANSA.

DB