People are getting sick, but for the most part it’s not apparent how they were infected. That’s because in poultry the virus is of low pathogenicity — “low path” in the vernacular of flu. It is not currently causing evident disease in birds, making it the viral equivalent of a stealth bomber.
Though its genetic blueprint makes clear it is a bird flu virus, H7N9 carries a number of mutations that indicate it is partially adapted to infecting mammals — which may help explain the rapidly accumulating human cases.
To date it doesn’t appear as if the virus is spreading person to person, which is perhaps the best feature of this virus. But two weeks after China announced it had found people infected with a new flu, concern among those in the influenza research world remains high.
“I think we are genuinely in new territory here in which the situation of having something that is low path in birds (yet) appears to be so pathogenic in people,” Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, said in an interview.
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link to globalnews.ca]
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BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- During the 24-hour period ending at 6 p.m. on Monday, China confirmed three new cases of H7N9 avian influenza, with one more death reported in Jiangsu Province.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission said in its daily update on H7N9 cases that a total of 63 H7N9 cases have been reported in China, including 14 cases that have ended in death.
The three new infections were confirmed in patients from Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.
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link to news.xinhuanet.com]
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