100 people have died from bird flu in China since the onset of winter. This is 16 times more than last year. The health authorities are alerted to this progression.
The bird flu epidemic is on the rise in China. It is even an explosion that the health authorities are seeing. Since the start of winter, 100 people have been killed by strain A (H7N9). Mortality is unusually high, according to the World Health Organization. Indeed, 40% of patients do not survive the infection.
The circulating strain was first transmitted to humans in 2013. Since then, thousands of cases have been reported by health authorities. But winter 2016-2017 is cause for concern. In January alone, 79 Chinese died from H7N9 bird flu, out of the 192 infected. This is much higher than the previous year. Over the same period, 6 deaths were counted.
No transmission between humans
In total, 16 provinces of the People’s Republic of China are facing the H7N9 avian influenza epidemic. This strain poses a particularly difficult problem for authorities because infected chickens do not develop symptoms and do not die. Transmission to humans is currently limited: only people in regular or prolonged contact with sick poultry – in markets for example – are likely to contract the disease.
But in two outbreaks, human-to-human transmission could not be ruled out. And if the strain is not very virulent in birds, this is not the case in humans.
In order to limit the spread of the virus, the Chinese authorities have therefore temporarily banned the opening of markets for live animals in the affected provinces. The transport of these is also subject to strict control.
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