#12,226
Hong Kong's Centre For Health Protection has published their Weekly Avian Influenza Report which includes an increase of 53 cases from the Mainland over last week's tally. They report 355 Mainland cases since November.
The bulk of these cases were announced last week (see Hong Kong Notified Of An Additional 45 H7N9 Cases In Mainland China) - but without onset or diagnosis dates - we can't really know when they occurred.First some excerpts, then I'll be back with a quick look at the (limited) data provided.
VOLUME 13, NUMBER 06
Reporting period: February 5, 2017 – February 11, 2017 (Week 06) (Published on February 14, 2017)
Summary 1. Since the previous issue of Avian Influenza Report (AIR), there were 53 new human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) reported by Mainland China health authorities in Zhejiang (12 cases), Jiangsu (10 cases), Anhui (6 cases), Fujian (5 cases), Guangdong (4 cases), Hubei (4 cases), Henan (3 cases), Jiangxi (3 cases), Sichuan (3 cases), Beijing (1 case), Shanghai (1 case) and Yunnan (1 case). Since March 2013 (as of February 13, 2017), there were a total of 1160 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) reported globally. Since November 2016 (as of February 13, 2017), 355 cases have been recorded in Mainland China.
2. Since the previous issue of AIR, there were no new human cases of avian influenza A(H5N6). Since 2014 (as of February 11, 2017), 16 human cases of avian influenza A(H5N6) were reported globally and all occurred in Mainland China. The latest case was reported on December 1, 2016.
3. There were no new human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017. From 2011 to 2015, 32 to 145 confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) were reported to WHO annually (according to onset date). In 2016, there have been 10 cases in Egypt.*
* Since November 21, 2012, WHO only publishes information on human cases with avian influenza
Although this report contains a line listing of cases, the data provided is spartan. Added to that, more than half are listed as `Under Investigation', which further limits the details provided.
Of the 22 cases (41%) where the patient's condition is provided:
- 1 is listed as a fatal outcome
- 8 are listed as either in critical condition of suffering from `Severe Pneumonia'
- 11 are listed as having `Pneumonia'
- 2 are listed as in `Mild' condition.
- The age skew to predominantly older adults continues, with only 3 of 53 cases (6%) aged 30 or younger (youngest age 3.3).
- And the gender skew towards males continues in this week's report, with 37 of 53 cases listed as male (69.8%).
