Avian Flu Scan for Feb 06, 2015

News brief

H7N9 sickens 7 more in China, 1 fatally

Two of China's provinces—Guangdong and Zhejiang— reported seven more H7N9 avian flu infections today, one of them fatal.

The Guangdong province patients are all in different cities, according to a provincial health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. They include a 48-year-old man from Guangzhou, a 76-year-old man from Zhuhai, a 55-year-old man from Chaozhou Chao, and a 2-year-old girl from Zongshan. The girl is in stable condition, with the rest in critical condition.

The patient who died is a 62-year-old woman from Huizhou. Four of the illnesses were diagnosed yesterday, and the 2-year-old girl's infection was confirmed today.

The two patients from Zhejiang province are a 58-year-old man from Tongxiang who was hospitalized on Jan 15 and is in critical condition and a 69-year-old man from Anji who got sick and was hospitalized on Jan 24 and was released on Feb 2. The information on the Zhejiang cases comes from a provincial health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers.

Today's new cases boost the global number of H7N9 cases to 553, according to FluTrackers' case list.

With no recent updates from national officials in China on what appears to be a third wave of infections that roughly began in September, it's unclear exactly how many cases have been detected over the past few months. FluTrackers, however, has recorded 98 cases since early September based on provincial and other official sources.

Though several provinces have reported cases over the past several months, a large portion of the illnesses are from southern China's Guangdong province, especially the most recent ones.
Feb 6 FluTrackers thread on Guangdong cases
Feb 6 FluTrackers thread on Zhejiang cases
FluTrackers H7N9 case list

China's Hunan province reports H5N6 outbreak in birds

China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed one large outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 avian flu on a farm in Hunan province, according to a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) report today.

The outbreak began Feb 2 on a poultry farm in Yiyang City in the Heshan district, located in the south-central part of the country.

Agricultural officials reported 3,400 cases of H5N6 and 2,600 deaths within the flock of 7,476 birds, representing a case-fatality rate of 76.5%. The remaining 4,876 birds were culled to prevent disease spread.

Officials confirmed H5N6 by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and have implemented several control measures, including quarantine, screening, poultry movement control, and farm disinfection.
Feb 6 OIE report

News Scan for Feb 06, 2015

News brief

Saudi Arabia reports 4 MERS-CoV cases, 1 death

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported four new MERS cases and one death in the past 2 days, bringing the country's total to 855 cases since June 2012. The country has confirmed 10 cases in the past 5 days.

The MOH reported three cases of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) today in Saudi men who have underlying conditions and are not healthcare workers. A 49-year-old man from Dammam and a 57-year-old man from Riyadh are both hospitalized in critical condition. Neither man had recent exposure to animals or to MERS cases in clinical or community settings.

The third case-patient is a 62-year-old man from Riyadh who is in stable condition. The man did not have contact with MERS-CoV cases in clinical or community settings, but he does have a history of animal exposure.

Yesterday, the MOH reported a MERS case in a 34-year-old female expatriate living in Riyadh. She has no underlying medical condition and is not a healthcare worker. She also had no exposure to animals or to MERS patients in clinical or community settings. The woman is hospitalized in stable condition.

The MOH today also noted the MERS-related death of a 56-year-old woman from Al-Kharj whose case was previously reported. She had an underlying medical condition and was not a healthcare worker.

Fourteen MERS-CoV cases remain active in Saudi Arabia, 475 people have recovered, and 366 have died.
Feb 6 MOH update
Feb 5 MOH update

CDC says 4 more children afflicted with mysterious polio-like illness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported 4 more cases of an unexplained polio-like illness that causes limb weakness in children, raising the count to 111 cases in 34 states since last August.

The rash of cases largely coincided with a nationwide outbreak of severe respiratory infections in children caused by enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). Some patients with the polio-like illness tested positive for the virus, but investigators have not yet established whether EV-D68 is the cause of the neurologic illness.

The CDC refers to the polio-like illness as acute flaccid myelitis. The agency says that about two thirds of the children have had some improvement in their symptoms, but only one has fully recovered.

The four new cases were reported by the CDC in a Jan 30 update. The agency and others are continuing to investigate the outbreak.
CDC update on AFM investigation
Related Jan 29 CIDRAP News story