Seven more human H7N9 avian influenza cases reported in China, Shanghai physician identified as one of this past weekends fatalities
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) last night (January 21) received notification of seven additional human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) respectively in Shenzhen (three cases) from the Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangdong Province and in Zhejiang (three cases) and Jiangsu (one case) from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The cases in Shenzhen involve a 76-year-old man and two women aged 39 and 59. They are currently hospitalized for treatment.
The cases in Zhejiang involve three men aged 49, 57 and 70. They are currently hospitalized for treatment.
The case in Jiangsu involves a man aged 71. He is currently hospitalized for treatment.
In addition, one of the victims previously reported has been identified as a Shanghai physician, according to a New York Times report Tuesday.
The victim of the H7N9 bird flu is identified as Dr. Zhang Xiaodong, a 31-year-old surgeon at the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Hospital, died on Saturday, and tests a day later showed he had contracted the H7N9 strain of avian influenza, the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning said Monday.
The report goes on to say:
Investigators in Shanghai are now trying to determine if Dr. Zhang had contact with poultry or live birds, as in most previous H7N9 cases, or if he might have contracted the disease from a patient. While there have been a handful of family clusters of H7N9 in China, the World Health Organization said on Monday that so far “there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.”
As of January 21, a total of 211 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) have been confirmed in the Mainland, including Zhejiang (80 cases), Shanghai (40 cases), Jiangsu (31 cases), Guangdong (26 cases), Fujian (12 cases), Jiangxi (six cases), Anhui (four cases), Henan (four cases), Beijing (two cases), Hunan (two cases), Shandong (two cases), Hebei (one case) and Guizhou (one case, imported from Zhejiang).
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