A rare bird flu strain has reportedly claimed the life of a 56-year-old woman in China. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the woman was from Guangdong, located in the south of China, and that she was the third person to have been infected with the H3N8 strain of avian influenza.
All three cases have occurred in China, per News.com.
The two other cases were detected in 2022, but they both eventually recovered from the illness. The report suggested that the illness is not transmitted between humans, but that it can pass to humans from infected animals. Additionally, the woman who passed away had “multiple underlying conditions,” a “history of exposure to live poultry,” and a “history of wild bird presence around her home.”
The WHO reportedly confirmed that the woman became ill on February 22 and subsequently died on March 16 after being hospitalized with “severe pneumonia” on March 3.
A series of investigations have revealed that the woman likely contracted the virus from a wet market, where several traces of the influenza were located after samples were collected from the area. The severity of the infections have run the gamut, with some experiencing mild symptoms and others experiencing some severe enough that lead to death.
The report noted that symptoms include “severe acute respiratory disease, while gastrointestinal or neurological” ailments, though these are rare.
The WHO reported: “Based on available information, it appears that this virus does not have the ability to spread easily from person to person, and therefore the risk of it spreading among humans at the national, regional, and international levels is considered to be low.”
“However, due to the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses, WHO stresses the importance of global surveillance to detect virological, epidemiological and clinical changes associated with circulating influenza viruses which may affect human (or animal) health.”
The organization continued: “Since avian influenza viruses continue to be detected in poultry populations, further sporadic human cases are expected in the future.”
“To better understand the current risk to public health, more information is needed from both human and animal investigation.”
