China Again bird flu H7N9 cases

The bird flu H7N9 in China was considered to be contained. However, new cases of infection were reported again.

16/01/2014

Since the beginning of the year in China, the occurrence of the dangerous H7N9 pathogen was again increasingly observed and it came to about 30 new infections among people, according to the Chinese authorities. The pathogen was actually already largely pushed back. Last Thursday, another three cases were reported in which people had been infected with the virus, as the news agency Xinhua reported.

At the end of March 2013, for the first time, there were infections in people with the virus, which then spread throughout the country. As a precaution, tens of thousands of birds were culled in the affected provinces in the south and east, and markets where live animals were offered were temporarily closed. To prevent even worse, the authorities had quarantined people who went to a doctor or hospital for the symptoms typical of the virus, such as fever, coughing, headaches, throat and headaches.

At first there was a decline
The treatment of the Chinese authorities with the emergence of the pathogen has led to a decline in new infections and many affected people were released after a short time back from the hospitals. Nevertheless, the virus had led to death in about every third patient. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 139 people had been infected with the virus by November, 45 of whom had not survived. In the winter time is generally expected according to expert rather with a higher risk of spreading than in warmer months.

Asian countries rather affected
Again and again, there are new variants of the H7 virus, which usually affects birds. In nature, influenza viruses usually specialize in different hosts. From year to year, new subgroups of virus types emerge, which in rare cases can also spread to humans. This is the case with the most well-known type, the type A / H5N1, which has repeatedly appeared among humans since 2003. However, cases were reported more in the Asian region, ie regions in which people live in close contact with infected animals. But mainly poultry farmers have a problem with infected animals and only in exceptional cases the pathogen is transmitted to humans. In December, it was proven that the first death of a person who had been infected with the bird flu A / H10N8. (Fr)

Picture: Schemmi