H7N9 bird flu claims new victim in China
Iran Press TV
Wed Apr 3, 2013 11:58AM GMT
Another man has died of H7N9 bird flu in China, after two men died in Shanghai on Sunday from the bird flu strain previously unseen in humans.
According to a report by Chinese media on Wednesday, a 38-year-old man, infected with the H7N9 avian flu virus, died in the province of Zhejiang. The report added that the victim worked as a chef in the same region.
On March 31, officials said two men, aged 27 and 87, died in China’s most populated city of Shanghai after they were infected by the H7N9 virus in February.
On April 2, the health bureau in the eastern province of Jiangsu issued a statement saying that a man and three women had contracted the bird flu virus.
The World Health Organization regional spokesman Timothy O’Leary has said they are “closely monitoring the situation” in China.
"There is apparently no evidence of human-to-human transmission, and transmission of the virus appears to be inefficient, therefore the risk to public health would appear to be low," said O'Leary.
Given that the H7N9 strain is considered not easily contracted by humans, there is no vaccine against the virus. The majority of humans, who have died from bird flu, were infected by another type of the disease, namely the H5N1 strain.
Since 2003, the H5N1 strain has caused more than 360 confirmed human deaths and tens of millions of birds have died from the virus.
MAM/HGH/SL
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