More isolated H7N9 cases detected
April 30, 2013 Category Health, Weekly
Isolated H7N9 cases have now also been confirmed in Shandong, Hunan and Taiwan. There is still no evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission. Experts do not see the clustered cases in which more than one member of a family became infected as instances of human-to-human transmission. But the virus is one of the most lethal flu viruses ever observed by the World Health Organization (WHO). So far, a total of 125 people have contracted the disease in China with many of those affected having worked with poultry. 24 have died, while some have fully recovered. “Investigations into the possible sources of infection and reservoirs of the virus are ongoing,” the WHO said. “Until the source of infection has been identified, it is expected that there will be further cases of human infection with the virus in China.” Speaking after a five-day study, a panel of WHO-experts described the strain as “one of the most lethal” of its kind and said it was more easily transmissible to humans than an earlier strain, H5N1. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s Assistant Director General for Health Security, said: “The situation remains complex and difficult and evolving.” There has been a “dramatic slowdown of cases” in Shanghai, which recorded most of the deaths, said Anne Kelso, Melbourne-based Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza. “This is very encouraging at this stage of the outbreak,” she said. After Shanghai closed down its live poultry markets in early April, “almost immediately there was a decline in detection of new cases,” Kelso said.
Chinese researchers have confirmed poultry as a source of H7N9 flu among humans but said they have not found any evidence of person-to-person transmission. A report in The Lancet said a probe into four cases of human H7N9 influenza in Zhejiang province showed that all the patients had been exposed to poultry, either through their occupation or by visiting wet poultry markets. “Nobody else who came into contact with the H7N9-infected patients began to show any symptoms within 14 days from the beginning of surveillance, suggesting that the virus is not currently able to transmit between human beings,” the researchers said in the journal. A leading researcher has called for live-bird markets in H7N9-hit areas to be closed and poultry culled to block the deadly virus’ spread. Taiwan heightened surveillance of travelers from China after authorities confirmed the island’s first case. A 53-year-old man became ill with fever after returning from a visit to Jiangsu province. Taiwanese airlines suspended providing chicken and ducks from China.
Premier Li Keqiang visited the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, warning people to prepare for new developments amid fears H7N9 could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans. “Countermeasures have been effective so far, but the situation is still developing as new cases turn up,” Li said. “We cannot afford to take it easy or relax, as we are facing a new virus,” he said. “We should be prepared for any possible development.”
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