Workers vaccinate chickens with H9 bird flu vaccine on a farm in Changfeng County, Anhui Province, China, April 14, 2013. REUTERS / Stringer
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
BEIJING, April 27 (Reuters) – China has registered its first H3N8 infection in humans, but the risk of spreading it to humans is low, health officials said.
The option was found in a four-year-old boy from the central province of Henan who showed fever and other symptoms on April 5, the National Health Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
The child was in contact with chickens and crows raised in his home, a statement added.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
The H3N8 variant is common in horses and dogs and has even been found in seals. No cases of H3N8 have been reported in humans, the NHC reported.
Analyzes of the entire genomic sequence show that the H3N8 virus in this human case is a reassortant, with genes from viruses previously found in poultry and wild birds, said Nicolas Lewis, an influenza expert at the Royal Veterinary College in Britain.
The virus requires extensive surveillance, said Eric Carlson, deputy head of the virology department at the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia.
Its impact on the 1889 flu pandemic, known as the Russian flu, is “a major concern about the risk of the virus,” he added.
China’s vast populations of farmed and wild birds of many species provide an ideal environment for mixing and mutating avian viruses. Some sporadically infect people, usually those who work with poultry.
Last year, China reported the first case of H10N3 in humans. Read more
The health commission said the initial study showed that the option still lacked the ability to effectively infect humans and the risk of a large-scale epidemic was low.
Although rare, human infections can lead to adaptive mutations that potentially allow these viruses to spread more easily in mammals, Carlson said.
“We need to be concerned about all the aftermath,” he said.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I’m registering
Report by Ella Cao and Dominic Patton Edited by David Goodman and Tomasz Janowski
Our standards: Thomson Reuters’ principles of trust.
Add Comment