A 41-year old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of the rare strain of H10N3 bird flu.
The man was hospitalised on 28 April and diagnosed with H10N3 on 28 May, he is said to be in a stable condition.
There is no indication that this strain of bird flu spreads easily between humans. Many strains of bird flu is present in China to date and there are several cases of human infection.
This is especially common with people who work with poultry.
Chinese health officials are not sure how the man became infected and trace contact with his family have confirmed no other human was infected with the bird flu.
The man is ready to be discharged from hospital and there are no concerns for human-to-human transmission according to the World Health Organisation.
“The source of the patient’s exposure to the H10N3 virus is not known at this time, and no other cases were found in emergency surveillance among the local population. At this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission.
“As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising, which is a vivid reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic is persistent,” the WHO added.
H10N3 is low pathogenic, which means it is unlikely to cause a large-scale outbreak.
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