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| Credit HK CHP |
#12,479
Hong Kong's Centre For Health Protection has published their latest weekly avian influenza report which details 17 recent H7N9 cases on the mainland, 16 which were announced last Friday in an NHFPC report from Beijing.
For the third week in a row, Hebei leads the pack with 6 new cases (making 18 over the past 3 weeks), followed by 2 from Shandong and 1 each from Anhui, Beijing, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Shaanxi and Sichuan.While we are seeing signs of a slowdown in cases, during the first four H7N9 epidemics the month of May has always produced fewer than a dozen cases. While some of these `May' cases had onsets in April, we've seen more than quadruple that number reported over the past 3 weeks.
Since only those sick enough to be hospitalized are typically tested for novel flu strains, the actual number of infections remains unknown.
Since this 5th H7N9 epidemic season began last October, we've seen just over 700 cases reported globally (697 on the Mainland, 5 in Hong Kong, 2 in Macao, 1 in Taiwan). More than double the previous 1 year record.
Avian Influenza Report
Avian Influenza Report is a weekly report produced by the Respiratory Disease Office, Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health. This report highlights global avian influenza activity in humans and birds.
VOLUME 13, NUMBER 20
Reporting period: May 14, 2017 – May 20, 2017 (Week 20)
(Published on May 23, 2017)
Summary
1. Since the previous issue of Avian Influenza Report (AIR), there were 17 new human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) reported by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) from Hebei (6 cases), Shandong (2 cases), Anhui (1 case), Beijing (1 case), Chongqing (1 case), Hunan (1 case), Jiangsu (1 case), Shanxi (1 case), Shaanxi (1 case), Sichuan (1 case) and Zhejiang (1 case). Since March 2013 (as of May 20, 2017), there were a total of 1503 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) reported globally. Since October 2016 (as of May 20, 2017), 697 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 May 20, 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. Since the previous issue of AIR, there was one new human case of avian influenza A(H5N1) from Egypt reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). From 2011 to 2016, 10 to 145 confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) were reported to the WHO annually (according to onset date). In 2017, there have been so far three cases in Egypt.*
