News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) are useful for treating H7N9 influenza infections, but there are worrisome signs that resistance can easily develop when patients take the drug, which can lead to a poor prognosis, researchers from China and Hong Kong reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said the growing number of clusters of novel coronavirus (nCoV) cases offers increasing evidence that the virus can spread between people in close contact, as France confirmed the infection in a patient who shared a hospital room with the country's first case-patient.

(CIDRAP News) – The steep decline in H7N9 cases in China has influenza experts wondering if poultry market closures have slowed the disease or if the new virus is showing a summerlike decline that other avian flu viruses show, according to the latest assessments today.

(CIDRAP News) – Another patient in China has died from an H7N9 influenza infection, raising the number of fatal illnesses to 32, though no new cases were reported today, holding the overall case total to 131.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the death today in an update based on information from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission.

(CIDRAP News) – A 79-year-old woman from China's Jiangxi province has been hospitalized with H7N9 avian flu, moving the outbreak total to 131 cases, including 31 deaths.

Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP), which cites China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, said in a statement today that the woman is in stable condition and that none of her 11 close contacts has shown symptoms so far.

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in China reported two new H7N9 infections, both from Fujian province, and four more deaths, boosting the outbreak's total to 130 cases, 31 of them (24%) fatal.

(CIDRAP News) – Although no new H7N9 influenza cases or deaths were announced in China today, a team that treated severely ill patients in Shanghai raised questions about the benefits of oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and health groups issued updates on preparedness steps.