Bird flu spreads to central China

A nurse stays with a patient at a specialized fever clinic inside the Ditan Hospital, where a Chinese girl warded for the H7N9 strain of bird flu, in Beijing Saturday, April 13, 2013. The 7-year-old girl has become the first confirmed case in Beijing of the latest strain of bird flu virus, which has killed 11 and sickened 34 others in eastern China, officials said Saturday. <AP Photo>

The total number of cases of humans infected with bird flu in China has reached 60 and it is spreading to the central region.

Eleven new cases of H7N9 bird flu infection were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 60, while Shanghai reported two more deaths from the virus, the official Xinhua News Agency reports.

Among the 11 new cases are the first two patients in central China’s Henan Province tested positive for the H7N9 virus. The death toll from the outbreak in China stands at 13, with most of the other cases considered to be severe.

The virus is normally found in birds and was never known to infect people until last month. China had been infected with a new variation of bird flu and there is no indication the virus can be transmitted between people, the World Health Organization(WHO) says.

In eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, provincial medical experts confirmed that two male patients have been infected with the virus. In Shanghai, three men, aged 73, 54 and 78, were confirmed to be infected with the new strain of avian influenza. They all developed symptoms of fever earlier this month and were sent to hospital for treatment.

In Zhejiang Province, the provincial health bureau said two men and two women, aged between 62 and 79, have been confirmed as having H7N9 and that all of them are listed in serious condition.

The province has reported 15 confirmed cases so far, including two deaths. The 483 close contacts of the previously reported 11 cases have not developed flu symptoms, while those of the four new cases were still being traced.

The virus had spread from eastern to northern China with a 7-year-old girl in Beijing found to be infected, the first such case in the Chinese capital, Xinhua reports.

Except for the three cases reported in Beijing and Henan, the other 52 cases reported since March 31 were detected in the eastern provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and in Shanghai.

According to WHO, this is the first time for infection with this influenza subtype, H7N9, to have been detected in humans. It says the new virus contains genes from three different avian influenza viruses and may have a greater ability to infect humans and other mammals than most of the previously seen viruses.

Investigations into the possible sources of infection and reservoirs of the virus are ongoing. Until the source of infection has been identified, it is expected that there will be further cases of human infection with the virus in China, WHO says.

So far there is no evidence of ongoing human-to-human transmission. A possible source for the infections is poultry markets, which have become the focus of investigation by China’s health ministry and WHO.

Several cities in eastern China have suspended trading in live poultry in an effort to contain the problem. Chinese scientists said the H7N9 virus probably came from migratory birds from East Asia that mixed with domestic fowl around Shanghai.

The new variation of bird flu has genetic characteristics that make it well-adapted to infect humans, the New England Journal of Medicine said.

China has been considered more open in its response to the new virus than it was a decade ago with an outbreak of SARS, when authorities were highly criticised for not releasing information.