The World Health Organization (WHO) has played down the transmission risk of a recently reported bird flu case in China.
The WHO said Tuesday that it had assessed the risk of human-to-human transmission of a newly reported bird flu case in China as “low” following the detection of a person infected with combined H3N2 and H10N5 strains of avian influenza.
The scrutiny of the latest reported case has come as public confidence in Beijing’s ability to warn the world about infectious diseases is low following China’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the tragic outcome for the patient, the WHO and Chinese health authorities have sought to reassure the public and the international community by highlighting the episodic nature of the transmission and the ongoing efforts to monitor and respond to avian influenza outbreaks.
According to a statement released by the WHO, there has been no evidence of sustained human transmission of these avian flu viruses, and no additional suspected human cases have been identified through investigations and testing conducted by authorities.
The WHO’s statement emphasized: “No new suspected human cases have been detected through the investigation and testing done by authorities,” asserting that avian flu viruses have not yet shown the capacity for sustained transmission among humans.
“Thus, the likelihood of human-to-human spread is considered low,” the organization concluded, describing the incident as “an episodic cross-species transmission from bird to humans.”
This case of bird flu was first reported to the WHO by China on January 27, with public disclosure following a few days later.
“The outbreak is an episodic cross-species transmission from bird to humans,” the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration said in a statement on January 31.
The patient, a 63-year-old woman from Anhui province with pre-existing health conditions, succumbed to the infection after developing symptoms including cough, sore throat, and fever on November 30 and subsequently dying on December 16.
Reuters on January 31 detailed the woman’s progression of illness, noting her occupation as a farmer and her hospitalization timeline that led to her death in Zhejiang province after her condition deteriorated.
Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty
The identification of the H3N2 and H10N5 strains in the woman’s respiratory samples was confirmed by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on January 26, following the initial isolation of the strains by Zhejiang authorities on January 22, according to Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday.
This case has prompted responses from health authorities and the WHO, emphasizing the current low risk of the virus infecting people and the absence of human-to-human transmission, CIDRAP reported.
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