#16,493
Our last update, 3 weeks ago (see Hong Kong CHP Monitoring 4 More H5N6 Human Infections On the Mainland) included 3 belated notifications from November, making it difficult to know if our data is truly complete and up to date.
Today's announcement is the 58th human H5N6 case reported from China, and the 59th worldwide. We are currently aware of 31 Chinese cases reported in 2021, which is a major increase over previous years. Today's case, from Huizhou, in Guangdong Province, is the 2nd announced from that city in less than a month (see China's 53rd Case).
Huizhou reports 1 case of H5N6
Time: 2022-01-07 22:39:26 Source: this website
The Guangdong Provincial Health and Health Commission notified on January 7, 2022 that Huizhou City reported 1 case of H5N6.
Patient Wu Mouyu, female, 43 years old, currently lives in Zhongkai District, Huizhou City. The patient is currently in critical condition and is being admitted to a designated hospital in Huizhou.
Experts believe that the cases that appear this time are sporadic cases, and the risk of transmission of the virus is low at this stage. Experts remind: the public should continue to remain vigilant and take the following measures to prevent H5N6 and other bird flu.
- Wash hands frequently: wash hands after touching birds, before meals and after toileting.
- To be cooked: Poultry and eggs should be cooked before eating.
- Seek medical treatment early: If you have respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, headache, general malaise, etc., seek medical treatment at the nearest medical and health institution as soon as possible. If you have been in contact with birds before, you should take the initiative to tell your doctor.
- Do not eat dead poultry.
- Do not buy poultry products from unknown sources.
- Avoid going to live poultry markets as much as possible.
Although human H5N6 infections (which are likely under reported) remain sporadic, and most likely are the result of direct contact with infected poultry, there are some cases with no known poultry contact.
This opens the possibility of occasional human-to-human transmission, although that would appear to be rare.
H5N6 causes severe illness in the majority of known cases and has a high (40%-50%) case fatality rate. It continues to evolve (and reassort) in poultry and wild birds, particularly in China, and over the past couple of months has sparked renewed interest by health agencies around the world.
Making it one of Three Blind Spots Going Into 2022 I wrote about in late December.
