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China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission has confirmed the first two human deaths from the H7N9 strain of bird flu after two Shanghai men, ages 87 and 27, succumbed to the disease. A 35- year old woman in the nearby province of Anhui is also reported to have contracted it, although no one can say for sure how any of these people were infected. So far there has been no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
According to the agency, “there was no sign that any of the three, who were infected over the past two months, had contracted the disease from each other, and no sign of infection in the 88 people who had closest contact with them.”
Bird flu (also called avian influenza) viruses occur naturally among birds, and is generally carried in the intenstines of wild birds worldwide. While most wild birds don’t usually do not get sick from them, bird flu is highly contagious among birds and can make some domesticated birds, including chickens, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them.
Mild bird flu symptoms can include ruffled feathers and a drop in egg production. However, the highly pathogenic form spreads more rapidly through flocks of poultry. This form may cause disease that affects multiple internal organs, and it has a mortality rate that can reach 90%-100%, often within 48 hours.
H7N9 bird flu is considered a low pathogenic strain that cannot easily be contracted by humans. The overwhelming majority of human deaths from bird flu have been caused by the more virulent H5N1, which decimated poultry stocks across Asia in 2003.
The World Health Organization is “closely monitoring the situation” in China, regional agency spokesman Timothy O’Leary said in Manila. He also noted that scientists have been closely monitoring the H5N1 strain of the virus, fearing that it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been connected to contact with infected birds.
Bird flu symptoms in humans can include typical influenza-like symptoms, such as: cough, sore throat, muscle aches and fever, as well as conjunctivitis in less severe cases. More serious symptoms include acute respiratory distress and viral pneumonia.
For more information readers can contact the Centers for Disease Control, 1600 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30333 800 232-4636.
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