China Reports World's First Human Case Of H10N3 Influenza

China H10N3 Influenza: China has confirmed that they have found a new strain of H10N3 influenza or bird flu in a man who was hospitalised and was being treated for fever. The NHC said that there has not been any recorded case of human infection of the bird flu before in the world.

On June 1, the National Health Commission of China (NHC) reported that they have found one case of human infection with the H10N3 influenza strain of bird flu in their Jiangsu province. This makes China the first country to have the first human transmission of infection with the strain.

The hospitalised man is a 41-year-old resident of Zhenjiang city. He was admitted to the hospital on April 28 after developing several symptoms. The patient was then diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus on May 28 according to the Health Commission’s statement. However, the patient is now stable and ready to be discharged from the hospital.

The NHC said that there has not been any recorded case of human infection of the bird flu before in the world. In addition to this, no evidence, data, or study that proves or sustains that human-to-human transmission of the avian influenza virus is possible.

The first human cases of bird flu in the world were reported in Hong Kong back in 1997. A total of six people were killed by the H5N1 strain of the virus then. After this, hundreds have been infected and more have died worldwide in following outbreaks, especially of highly virulent strains like H7N9.

Apart from China, countries like Russia have also reported the first case of H5N8 avian influenza in humans previously this year. The influenza was detected in February 2021 in a poultry farm. According to a report given to the World Health Organization (WHO), the cases were detected in the employees who work at a poultry farm in southern Russia. This virus, however, is also reported to not spread among other citizens.

H5N1 In India

In January 2021, unusual poultry deaths were reported in the states of Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh in India. Indian government had then warned about the outbreak of bird flu or Avian influenza as H5N1 virus was found in samples from dead birds. However, humans cannot easily get infected by the H5N1 virus. Presently, there is no evidence if human-to-human-transmission is possible.