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Showing posts with the label A(H5N6)

A Review of Human Influenza A(H7N9) Infections in 2016

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Note: Between January 1 and January 9 2017, China officially reported  to WHO at least another 107 human cases of H7N9 most with onset dates in 2016. The information presented below relates to  the first 125 cases reported with onset dates in 2016.  updated January 11, 2017 The first officially reported human case of infection from a reassortant avian influenza A(H7N9) virus was from the People’s Republic of China (China) in March of 2013, although human H7N9 infection may have occurred in or near Hong Kong as early as 2007 (FAO ID event 220957). Since 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially reported 808 human cases of H7N9 as of December 23, 2016. In the past few days, an additional 13 H7N9 cases have been reported by public health officials in China but have not yet been published by the WHO. Of these 821 cases, 696 have onset or reporting dates prior to December 31, 2015. The total number of reported H7N9 cases in 2016 is 125. Geographic Distribution ...

Will H5N6 Cause the Next Pandemic?

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Influenza A(H5N6) is an emerging novel avian influenza that apparently derived from a reassortment of A(H5N1) with A(H6N6). H5N6 was first reported in domestic poultry in early 2014 from Laos, Vietnam, and China. Since then it has continued to be widely reported from domestic flocks in these countries (primarily China). In April 2014, the first case of a human infected with the H5N6 influenza virus was reported from Sichuan Province in China. Since then, seven additional human cases have been reported, all from China. The most recent case was reported from Jieyang, Guangdong Province a few days ago. Of these eight cases, six have been reported by the World Health Organization (see links below). Based on onset dates two of these cases occurred in 2014, four in 2015. Onset dates for the two most recent cases have not yet been reported. Among these cases are five males and three females. One of the females was pregnant. Her child was delivered by caesarian section and the woman is appare...

Human Cases of Avian Influenza Infections in 2014

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In 2014, 366 human cases of avian influenza infection from four subtypes, A(H7N9), A(H5N1), A(H5N6) and A(H10N8) were reported from 7 countries, China, Egypt, Taiwan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The case-fatality risk ranged from possibly as low as .22 to as high as .67 among these subtypes in 2014. There is no evidence among any of these subtypes of sustained human-to-human transmission. Influenza viruses that easily circulate among human populations are referred to as seasonal influenza viruses and can cause severe illness in 3 to 5 million individuals annually.[1] Avian influenza Type A viruses that cause infection in birds are referred to as avian influenza viruses. These viruses occur naturally among wild birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species.[2] These avian influenza viruses circulating in bird populations do not usually infect humans. However, sometimes humans can become infected with avian influenza subtypes which hav...