News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The most detailed genetic analysis so far of H7N9 viruses that have infected humans in China shed more light on how the virus may have emerged—a complex set of events that could have involved mixing between wild and domestic ducks and reassortment in poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – Five more H7N9 influenza infections have been confirmed in eastern China, all in older adults, while suspicions grow that wild birds may be the source and that the disease might be spreading to people through poultry environments.

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese health officials today reported that the H7N9 influenza virus has been detected in four more people, all in critical condition, raising the number of patients infected with the new strain to seven.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of reported H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in poultry and wild birds has decreased since mid 2011 and was down sharply in the second quarter of this year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a quarterly update on the ongoing situation.