Four New Cases Of H7N9 Avian Influenza In China’s Jiangsu Province

Four more cases of infection with the lesser-known H7N9 avian influenza virus were reported in east China’s Jiangsu Province on Tuesday.

AsianScientist (Apr. 5, 2013) – Four more cases of infection with the lesser-known H7N9 avian influenza virus were reported in east China’s Jiangsu Province on Tuesday, bringing the total number of known infections to seven.

The four patients include a 45-year-old woman from Nanjing, a 48-year-old woman from Suqian, a 83-year-old man from Suzhou, and a 32-year-old woman from Wuxi, reported the state-run Xinhua agency.

All four are in critical condition, the Jiangsu provincial health bureau said Tuesday in a statement. No mutual infections were found among them, and none of the 167 people who had come into contact with the four showed symptoms of fever or respiratory illnesses, it said.

Previously, two of the three cases of human infection with the H7N9 avian influenza were detected in Shanghai, both fatal. An 87-year-old man fell sick on Feb. 19 and died on March 4, while a 27-year-old man who became ill on Feb. 27 died on March 10. In the third case, a 35-year-old woman in Chuzhou City of Anhui fell sick on March 9 and is now in a critical condition, according to China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The Shanghai city government has pledged to report daily statistics on pneumonia cases caused by unknown reasons, conduct a thorough evaluation on the severity and risk of the H7N9 bird flu, increase research into the viral strain, and to monitor those who had been in contact with those infected, it said.

On Monday, the Shanghai Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center found no traces of bird flu viruses in the 34 samples of pig carcasses pulled from the Huangpu River that runs through the city and provides it drinking water.

The H7N9 bird flu virus subtype has not been seen in humans before. There are currently no available vaccines against this strain of the virus.

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