tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Deadly H7N9 bird flu can, in certain situations, be transmitted person-to-person in hospitals, according to a new report from China.
Since bird flu first appeared in eastern China in 2013, nearly 700 people have been infected, the study authors said. Almost 300 people have died as of Jan. 10, 2016. Most of the infections and deaths have occurred in China, the authors said.
People usually get this flu from infected birds, but clusters of infections in households have been reported. This is the first report, however, of person-to-person transmission occurring in a hospital, the researchers said.
"Our study shows a patient with H7N9 bird flu in a hospital in Shantou, China infected two doctors," said lead researcher David Kelvin, from the International Institute of Infection and Immunity in Shantou.
"This is alarming because it shows that human-to-human transmission is possible in a hospital setting," he said. "Normally, H7N9 bird flu is spread from chickens [or poultry] to humans, and 30 percent of human cases die of severe pneumonia."
The report was published in the Feb. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
http://health.usnews.com/health-new...o-doctor-spread-of-bird-flu-reported-in-china
Since bird flu first appeared in eastern China in 2013, nearly 700 people have been infected, the study authors said. Almost 300 people have died as of Jan. 10, 2016. Most of the infections and deaths have occurred in China, the authors said.
People usually get this flu from infected birds, but clusters of infections in households have been reported. This is the first report, however, of person-to-person transmission occurring in a hospital, the researchers said.
"Our study shows a patient with H7N9 bird flu in a hospital in Shantou, China infected two doctors," said lead researcher David Kelvin, from the International Institute of Infection and Immunity in Shantou.
"This is alarming because it shows that human-to-human transmission is possible in a hospital setting," he said. "Normally, H7N9 bird flu is spread from chickens [or poultry] to humans, and 30 percent of human cases die of severe pneumonia."
The report was published in the Feb. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
http://health.usnews.com/health-new...o-doctor-spread-of-bird-flu-reported-in-china
