First Human Case Of H3N8 Bird Flu:
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) announced that a four-year-old boy was found to have been infected with the H3N8 variant of Bird Flu after developing several symptoms, including fever.
- H3N8 variant has previously been detected elsewhere in the world in horses, dogs, birds and seals.
- However, before this no human cases of H3N8 have been reported.
Bird Flue:
- Avian influenza—known informally as avian flu or bird flu—refers to “influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds”.
- Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans, however, some, such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), have caused serious infections in people.
- There is no vaccine against H5N1.
- Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans, however some, such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), cross the species barrier and cause disease or subclinical infections in humans and other mammals as well.
- The Avian (H5N1) virus subtype, a highly pathogenic virus, first infected humans in 1997 during a poultry epidemic outbreak in Hong Kong SAR, China.
