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Since the last WHO Influenza update on 14 December 2015, two new laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection were reported to WHO.
A 60-year-old male from Mymensing District in Bangladesh was hospitalized on 12 October 2015 with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI). Nasopharyngeal and throat swabs were collected upon hospital admission as part of SARI surveillance, and tested positive for A(H5N1) virus. The patient fully recovered. Prior to illness onset, the patient was exposed to live backyard poultry.
The second case was in a 42-year-old male from Sichuan Province in China who had an onset of illness on 27 December 2015. He was hospitalized on 31 December 2015 and remains in a critical condition. This case had history of exposure to poultry.
From 2003 through 20 January 2016, 846 laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection have been officially reported to WHO from 16 countries (Figure 1). Of these cases, 449 have died.
In this reporting period, five laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N6) virus infection were reported to WHO from China (Table 1). All were sporadic cases and with no further transmission among contacts.
Country | Province | Age | Sex | Date of Onset | Clinical outcome or current status | Exposure to |
China | Guangdong | 26 | F | 24 Dec 2015 | Died | Handled duck meat |
China | Guangdong | 40 | F | 22 Dec 2015 | Hospitalized | Live poultry |
China | Guangdong | 42 | M | 12 Dec 2015 | Died | Live poultry market |
China | Guangdong | 25 | M | 1 Jan 2016 | Died | Live poultry market |
China | Guangdong | 31 | F | 8 Jan 2016 | Hospitalized | Unknown |
Various influenza A(H5) subtypes, such as influenza A(H5N1), A(H5N2), A(H5N3), A(H5N6), A(H5N8) and A(H5N9), continue to be detected in birds in West Africa, Europe and Asia, according to recent reports received by OIE. Since last month?s report on detections of avian influenza A(H5) viruses in birds in France, no human infections have been identified. Although the influenza A(H5) viruses might have the potential to cause disease in humans, so far no human cases of infection have been reported, with exception of the human infections with influenza A(H5N1) and A(H5N6) viruses in China.
Human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses in China
Since the last WHO Influenza update on 18 December 2015, ten new laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus infection were reported to WHO (Table 2). Cases were reported from Guangdong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces of China with onsets between 24 November 2015 and 24 December 2015. All cases were exposed to live or slaughtered poultry.
Country | Province | Age | Sex | Date of onset | Clinical outcome or current status | Exposure to |
China | Zhejiang | 65 | M | 24 Nov 2015 | Critical | Live poultry |
China | Zhejiang | 51 | F | 1 Dec 2015 | Died | Live poultry market |
China | Jiangsu | 41 | F | 1 Dec 2015 | Severe | Live poultry |
China | Zhejiang | 77 | M | 7 Dec 2015 | Died | Live poultry |
China | Jiangsu | 52 | F | 11 Dec 2015 | Critical | Live poultry |
China | Zhejiang | 53 | M | 12 Dec 2015 | Critical | Live poultry |
China | Guangdong | 60 | M | 19 Dec 2015 | Died | Live poultry |
China | Jiangxi | 46 | M | 21 Dec 2015 | Severe | Live poultry |
China | Zhejiang | 58 | F | 22 Dec 2015 | Critical | Poultry |
China | Zhejiang | 29 | F | 24 Dec 2015 | Critical | Live poultry |
Human infections with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus in Bangladesh
One human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus was reported from Bangladesh. The case was a 46-year-old male poultry worker in a market in Dhaka City. He had onset of illness on 27 October 2015 presenting with fever, runny nose, headache and myalgia. Throat and nasal swabs were collected as part of the market avian influenza surveillance system and tested positive for A(H9N2) virus. The patient recovered. One day prior to illness onset, the case reported handling sick poultry.
Overall public health risk assessment for avian influenza A(H9N2) viruses: This is the third human infection of avian influenza A(H9N2) virus reported from Bangladesh. Further human cases and small clusters could occur as this virus is circulating in poultry populations across Asia and the Middle East. Human cases have also previously been reported from China and Egypt. This virus does not
seem to transmit easily between humans and tends to result in mild clinical disease, therefore the
current likelihood of community-level spread and public health impact of this virus is considered low.
http://www.who.int/entity/influenza/..._2016.pdf?ua=1