According to the World Health Organization, a woman has died from H3N8 bird flu in China, the first known human fatality from the avian influenza strain.
- The woman who died was a 56-year-old from Guangdong province in southeast China.
- According to the WHO, exposure to a live poultry market may have caused the infection, however it is still unclear what the exact source of this infection is and how this virus is related to other avian influenza A(H3N8) viruses that are circulating in animals.
Key points
- H3N8 is known to have been circulating since 2002 after first emerging in North American waterfowl (wild birds). It is known to infect horses, dogs and seals.
- It had not been detected in humans before two non-fatal cases emerged – both also in China – in April and May 2022.
- China often sees sporadic human infections with bird flu owing to its huge poultry and wild bird populations that often live in close proximity to humans.
- Human bird flu cases are usually the result of direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead poultry or contaminated environments.
- Over the past two decades, H7N9 viruses have caused the highest number of human infections, followed by H5N1 viruses, which have caused the second highest number of human infections. Most human infections with avian influenza A viruses have resulted from direct contact with, or close exposure to, infected birds/poultry.
