China information first H3N8 chicken flu dying, WHO says | Fowl flu

A girl has died from H3N8 chicken flu in China, the World Health Organization reported – the primary recognized human fatality from the avian influenza pressure.

H3N8 is understood to have been circulating since 2002 after first rising in North American waterfowl. It’s recognized to contaminate horses, canine and seals.

It had not been detected in people earlier than two non-fatal instances emerged – each additionally in China – in April and Could final 12 months.

The girl who died was a 56-year-old from Guangdong province in southeast China.

She fell sick on 22 February, was hospitalised for extreme pneumonia on 3 March and died on 16 March, the WHO stated.

“The affected person had a number of underlying circumstances. She had a historical past of publicity to dwell poultry earlier than the onset of the illness, and a historical past of untamed chicken presence round her house,” the UN well being company stated in a press release on Tuesday.

“No shut contacts of the case developed an an infection or signs of sickness on the time of reporting,” it added.

Whereas publicity to a dwell poultry market could have prompted the an infection, “it’s nonetheless unclear what the precise supply of this an infection is and the way this virus is expounded to different avian influenza A(H3N8) viruses which are circulating in animals,” the WHO stated, calling for additional animal and human investigations.

Of the 2 instances final 12 months, one developed a crucial sickness, whereas the opposite had a light sickness. Each instances possible acquired an infection from direct or oblique publicity to contaminated poultry, the WHO stated.

“It seems that this virus doesn’t have the power to unfold simply from individual to individual, and subsequently the danger of it spreading amongst people on the nationwide, regional, and worldwide ranges is taken into account to be low,” the Geneva-based organisation stated.

“Nonetheless, because of the continuously evolving nature of influenza viruses, WHO stresses the significance of world surveillance to detect virological, epidemiological and scientific modifications related to circulating influenza viruses which can have an effect on human (or animal) well being.”

Human chicken flu instances are normally the results of direct or oblique publicity to contaminated dwell or lifeless poultry or contaminated environments.

The WHO stated animal influenza infections might lead to illness starting from conjunctivitis or delicate flu-like signs, to extreme acute respiratory illness and even dying.

Gastrointestinal or neurological signs have been reported however these are uncommon, it added.