Since November China has totaled at least 347 H7N9 avian flu cases.
Officials reported six more H7N9 avian influenza infections in five different provinces in China, signaling an ongoing surge of activity what will likely make the current fifth wave of illnesses the largest since the virus was first detected in humans in 2013.
Poland reports high-path H5N5, and Nigeria confirms another H5N8 outbreak in poultry.
Active surveillance put in place after H7N9 emerged in neighboring China helped Myanmar identify H5N6 for the first time in poultry.
One more H7N9 avian flu infection was reported from China today, a sign of ongoing activity that is within striking distance of the record 319 cases reported during the second wave of activity during the winter of 2013-14.
In a sign of an ongoing steady stream of H7N9 avian flu cases, five new infections have been reported, four from China's mainland plus an imported infection in Taiwan, according to statements yesterday and today from Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP).
Also, 5 European nations report much more H5N8, and Japan confirms a new H5 outbreak.
Today China reported two more cases of H7N9 avian flu in Sichuan province, according to FluTrackers, an infectious disease tracking message board. The patients are in critical condition. According to translated news reports, no close family contacts have tested positive for the highly pathogenic strain.
Two more H7N9 avian influenza infections were reported from China, both of them involving men from Hubei province in the central part of the country, Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection (CHP) said today in a statement.
The men, ages 40 and 55, are hospitalized in critical condition in Wuhan.
Portugal yesterday reported its first highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza detection, in a grey heron found dead near the southern city of Faro, according to a notice yesterday from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In several countries in Europe and other regions that have had H5N8 outbreaks, the virus was first found in wild birds before jumping to poultry.
