Mary Wilson
Well-known member
18 January 2023
Situation at a glance
On 9 January 2023, WHO was notified of a human infection caused by an avian influenza A(H5) virus. The case, a nine-year-old girl, living in a rural area in the province of Bolívar, Ecuador, was in contact with backyard poultry, which was acquired a week before the onset of her symptoms. She is currently hospitalized, in isolation, and is being treated with antivirals.
This is the first reported case of human infection caused by avian influenza A(H5) virus in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Work is ongoing to further characterize the virus.
Currently, available epidemiological and virological evidence suggests that influenza A(H5) viruses have not acquired the ability for sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low.
Description of the situation
On 9 January 2023, the Ecuador IHR National Focal Point (NFP) informed WHO of a human case of infection with an avian influenza A(H5) virus. The case was detected as part of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance and was confirmed by the National Influenza Centre (NIC), the National Institute of Public Health Research (INSPI per its acronym in Spanish).
The case is a nine-year-old girl, with no known comorbidities, from Bolívar Province, Ecuador. She developed symptoms of conjunctival pruritus and coryza on 25 December 2022. On 27 December, she was brought to a local health center for medical evaluation and treatment. On 30 December, due to the persistent symptoms including nausea, vomiting and constipation, she was admitted to a general hospital where empirical treatment for meningitis was started with antibiotics and antipyretics. On 3 January 2023, she was transferred to a pediatric hospital in critical condition where she was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with septic shock and was treated with antivirals and mechanical ventilation due to pneumonia.
On 5 January, as part of SARI surveillance activities, a nasopharyngeal sample was collected from the patient. The sample was sent to INSPI and tested positive for influenza A(H5) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 7 January. ...
According to the information received thus far, the virus has not been detected in other individuals beyond this single case. While further characterization of the virus from this case is pending, currently available epidemiological and virological evidence suggests that influenza A(H5) viruses have not acquired the ability for sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low. Based on available information, WHO assesses the risk to the general population posed by this virus to be low. The risk assessment will be reviewed as needed should further epidemiological or virological information become available.
A global risk assessment associated with recent influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses was published on 21 December 2022. However, the subtype and clade information for this human case is not yet known. ...
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2023-DON434
Situation at a glance
On 9 January 2023, WHO was notified of a human infection caused by an avian influenza A(H5) virus. The case, a nine-year-old girl, living in a rural area in the province of Bolívar, Ecuador, was in contact with backyard poultry, which was acquired a week before the onset of her symptoms. She is currently hospitalized, in isolation, and is being treated with antivirals.
This is the first reported case of human infection caused by avian influenza A(H5) virus in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Work is ongoing to further characterize the virus.
Currently, available epidemiological and virological evidence suggests that influenza A(H5) viruses have not acquired the ability for sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low.
Description of the situation
On 9 January 2023, the Ecuador IHR National Focal Point (NFP) informed WHO of a human case of infection with an avian influenza A(H5) virus. The case was detected as part of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance and was confirmed by the National Influenza Centre (NIC), the National Institute of Public Health Research (INSPI per its acronym in Spanish).
The case is a nine-year-old girl, with no known comorbidities, from Bolívar Province, Ecuador. She developed symptoms of conjunctival pruritus and coryza on 25 December 2022. On 27 December, she was brought to a local health center for medical evaluation and treatment. On 30 December, due to the persistent symptoms including nausea, vomiting and constipation, she was admitted to a general hospital where empirical treatment for meningitis was started with antibiotics and antipyretics. On 3 January 2023, she was transferred to a pediatric hospital in critical condition where she was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with septic shock and was treated with antivirals and mechanical ventilation due to pneumonia.
On 5 January, as part of SARI surveillance activities, a nasopharyngeal sample was collected from the patient. The sample was sent to INSPI and tested positive for influenza A(H5) by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 7 January. ...
According to the information received thus far, the virus has not been detected in other individuals beyond this single case. While further characterization of the virus from this case is pending, currently available epidemiological and virological evidence suggests that influenza A(H5) viruses have not acquired the ability for sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low. Based on available information, WHO assesses the risk to the general population posed by this virus to be low. The risk assessment will be reviewed as needed should further epidemiological or virological information become available.
A global risk assessment associated with recent influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b viruses was published on 21 December 2022. However, the subtype and clade information for this human case is not yet known. ...
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2023-DON434