Heat map of H7N9 Cases – Credit Dr. Ian Mackay
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Professor Ian Mackay has posted a pair of H7N9 centric blogs overnight (my time) on his Virology Down Under blog, and as usual, they are both well worth jumping away from this blog to read.
First Ian takes a look at the H7N9 virus in non-poultry hosts, and examines a recent EID Journal report on the Possible Role of Songbirds and Parakeets in Transmission of Influenza A(H7N9) Virus to humans.
H7N9 and human infections: not just a paltry matter
Jones and an all-star cast of colleagues from Hong Kong, Shenzen, Beijing and Tennessee have looked at songbirds and their susceptibility to a human isolate (infectious virus recovered from a human case of H7N9 influenza) H7N9 infection (1).
But before I note the good bits of their study, this paper is one of importance for adding a lot to our understanding of how H7N9 is jumping to people from poultry/live bird/wet markets. It's also a great reference if you want to better understand influenza and birds overall.
Next up, Ian updates 6 of his terrific charts and maps showing the current case count and status of the H7N9 virus in China.
An update on avian influenza A(H7N9) virus cases in humans: Week 56
As we currently stand (this minute), there are 389 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection including perhaps 122 deaths (31% PFC).
As with all of Ian’s work, both are highly recommended.
