China Confirms World’s 1st Human Case of Bird Flu Strain, But Says Risk of Human-to-Human Transmission Low

The universe has not been kind in the last year or so.

When the coronavirus emerged last year and infections around the world skyrocketed, countries imposed strict lockdowns and managed to control their outbreaks.

Everyone thought they had defeated the virus, but the number of cases started rising again after restrictions were lifted.

Then, we developed several effective COVID-19 vaccines, thinking had finally beat this viral beast, but it responded with several mutated strains, some of which could break through the defences of vaccines.

As bad as things are, it certainly can’t get worse, right?

Right?

China Confirms World’s 1st Human Case of Bird Flu Strain

Oh.

Yesterday, China made an announcement that no one wanted to hear: we’ve found the world’s first human infection of the H10N3 bird flu strain.

The man, who resides in the city of Zhenjiang in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, developed a fever and other symptoms and ended up being hospitalised on 28 April.

Fortunately, he’s now stable and ready to be discharged.

The man was confirmed to be carrying the H10N3 avian influenza virus on 28 May, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said.

However, the NHC did not provide details on how the man contracted the virus.

For the unfamiliar, H10N3 is a relatively less severe strain of the bird flu virus.

It’s a low pathogenic, meaning it’s less likely to cause death or severe illness. However, this is based on its spread among poultry, not humans.

News of this bird flu transmission to a human is not as bad as you think, however.

Risk of Human-to-Human Transmission Low

It’s unlikely that we’ll have to deal with a H10N3 pandemic as the NHC said that the risk of large-scale spread is extremely low.

Phew, one pandemic is more than enough, thank you!

It added that there had been no human cases of H10N3 previously reported in the world.

What’s more, several strains of avian influenza have been found among animals in China, but mass outbreaks in humans are rare.

H7N9 Strain Last Virus to Claim Human Lives

The last bird flu epidemic which affected humans occurred in late 2016 to 2017 after an outbreak of the H7N9 virus.

Since 2013, the virus has infected 1,668 people and claimed 616 lives.

Bird flu outbreaks have occurred in recent years in Europe, Asia, and Africa as well, but none have led to a full-blown pandemic.

Nevertheless, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention urged stricter surveillance in poultry farms, markets, and wild birds.

Hopefully, the universe will be kind enough not to saddle us with two pandemics, as our poor hearts can only take one per lifetime.

Reader: Wait, what about SARS though?

Feature Image: TukkataMoji / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purposes only)