# 8141
The story has been buzzing around for several hours (see here, and here), but we now have an official statement from Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection on what appears to be that city’s third imported case of H7N9. This is also the third H7N9 case announced today, with 1 case reported in Guangdong province, and another in Jiangsu province.
Third confirmed human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Hong Kong under CHP investigation
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is today (January 8) investigating an additional confirmed human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Hong Kong affecting a man aged 65.
The patient, with underlying medical condition, lives in Sham Shui Po. He presented with fever, coughing and shortness of breath since January 3 and attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) on January 7. He was admitted for chest infection. As his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit on the same day.
His nasopharyngeal aspirate tested positive for avian influenza A(H7N9) virus upon laboratory testing by the Public Health Laboratory Services Branch of the CHP today.
The patient is currently under isolation for further management in QMH in critical condition.
Initial investigation by the CHP revealed that the patient had travelled to Shenzhen with his family member from January 1 to 2. They passed by a wet market in Shenzhen on January 1. In Hong Kong, the patient did not go into wet markets, but he may sometimes walk pass the entrance of Pei Ho Street Market in Sham Shui Po in the morning.
Enquiries also indicated that his close contact has remained asymptomatic so far and will be put under quarantine for 10 days since last contact with the patient. Contact tracing for his other contacts including patients in QMH who stayed in the same cubicle with the confirmed patient as well as healthcare workers in QMH and relevant hospital visitors are underway. They will be put under medical surveillance.
This is the third confirmed human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Hong Kong.
Exactly where this patient contracted the virus is uncertain, but he did have recent travel history to Shenzhen, where two other imported cases in December had traveled, and where local infections have recently been reported.
Despite this uptick in H7N9 case reports, none of these cases are epidemiologically linked, we’ve seen no signs of secondary infection in their contacts, and so far we’ve no evidence to suggest efficient or sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus.
