WHO receives notice of woman’s death from H3N8 avian influenza in China

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed three cases bird flu H3N8 in people over the last year in China, among which the most recent was registered at this institution on March 27 and corresponded to a woman who died of this infection in the middle of that month.

The victim suffered from comorbidities and was found to have had close contact with farm birds before he developed symptoms of the disease, as well as having wild birds around his house, indicating that he most likely caught it in the live bird market.

The epidemiological studies carried out so far show that the H3N8 virus does not have the ability to spread easily from person to person, therefore WHO considers that “the risk of spread between people at the national, regional or international level is low.”

However, the known fact that this type of virus can change makes it very important to conduct global surveillance to detect any virological, epidemiological or clinical modifications, he stressed.

The first two human cases reported by China of the same disease were reported in April and May 2022 and recovered. In both cases, it was determined that the infection occurred as a result of direct or indirect contact with live edible birds.

After identifying three cases, all contacts of the infected were tracked and traced, but no additional cases were found among them.

WHO recommendations

WHO recommended that, to minimize the risk of infection, countries should raise public awareness of the importance of avoiding contact in hazardous environments such as farms or markets where there are live animals, edible birds, or surfaces that may be contaminated with animal feces.

Those who must come into contact with these species in their work should practice strict hand hygiene and wear respiratory protection to reduce the hazard.

To prevent the virus from mutating, which could facilitate human-to-human transmission, it is recommended that all workers in the poultry sector be vaccinated against the virus. flu.

The organization has indicated that it does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions based on the information available to it.

At the moment, one of the priorities is to understand the volume of circulation flu virus between animals, and that all States and other entities exchange their information quickly.

“The diversity of zoonotic influenza viruses that cause infections from person to person is a concern and requires surveillance in both humans and animals, as well as a complete review of each zoonotic infection and pandemic preparedness,” the WHO said. (EFE)