Since 2014, 83 human cases of avian influenza H5N6 have been reported by China’s health authorities. - AFP
BEIJING (The Straits Times/Asia News Network):China’s latest reported human cases of bird flu have raised concerns among experts about the infections tied to a high fatality rate despite the authorities saying there is a low risk of transmission.
The latest case is a 53-year-old woman from Jiangsu province in eastern China, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) official cited by BNO news. She developed symptoms on Jan 31 after exposure to poultry and tested positive for the H5N1 strain, before being hospitalised on Feb 4.
More than 1,400km away, another case was detected in a 49-year-old man from the southern Guangdong province.
Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Wednesday that the man had contact with live poultry before developing symptoms on Dec 17 and was confirmed to be infected with the H5N6 strain. He was admitted to hospital on Dec 21 and remains in “serious condition”.
The city’s Health Department advised travellers to China to avoid contact with poultry, including staying away from wet markets, live poultry markets or farms.
Since 2014, 83 human cases of avian influenza H5N6 have been reported by China’s health authorities, said CHP.
The global spread of bird flu has raised concerns about the possibility of a future variant that could lead to human-to-human transmission, which experts say is rare.
Ecuador reported its first human case of bird flu in a nine-year-old girl in January, who was likely infected through direct contact with virus-carrying domestic poultry.
Bird flu affected nearly 60 million birds across the United States, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, leading to many of the birds being culled.
In February, Cambodian officials said a daughter and father pair who were recently infected with H5N1 were both exposed to village poultry and that there was no sign of human-to-human transmission.
The 11-year-old girl died on Feb 22 and her father tested positive two days later, prompting the WHO to voice concerns about possible transmission between humans.
WHO director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention Sylvie Briand confirmed the global health body was working with Cambodian authorities, describing the outbreak as “worrying”.
While risk of transmission between humans is low, the virus can be dangerous with up to 93.8 per cent of cases developing into severe cases, China’s Global Times reported, adding that death rates could reach above 60 per cent.
