A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu.
The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was hospitalized on April 28 after developing a fever and other symptoms, the country’s National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
He was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus on May 28, it said, but did not give details on how the man had been infected with the virus.
H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus in poultry, and the risk of it spreading on a large scale was very low, the NHC added.
The man was stable and ready to be discharged from the hospital. Medical observation of his close contacts had not found any other cases.
Many strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry. There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed around 300 people in 2016-2017.
No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally, the NHC said.
What are the symptoms of bird flu?
You may have an H5N1 infection if you encounter typical flu-like symptoms such as:
- cough
- diarrhea
- respiratory problems
- fever (over 100.4°F or 38°C)
- headache
- muscle aches
- malaise
- runny nose
- sore throat
If you’re disclosed to bird flu, you should inform staff before you arrive at the doctor’s office or hospital. Alerting them forward of time will allow them to take protection to protect staff and other patients before supervising you.
What causes H10N3 bird flu?
Although there are several kinds of bird flu, H5N1 was the first avian influenza virus to contaminate humans. The first infection transpired in Hong Kong in 1997. The outbreak was correlated to handling infected poultry.
H5N1 occurs inherently in wild waterfowl, but it can circulate easily to domestic poultry. The disease is transmitted to humans via contact with infected bird wastes, nasal secretions, or secretions from the mouth or eyes.
Consuming correctly cooked poultry or eggs from infected birds doesn’t transmit the bird flu, but eggs should never be conformed runny. Meat is believed safe if it has been cooked to an interior temperature of 165ºF (73.9ºC) and also it is a healthy diet to find these types of viruses.