Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

(CIDRAP News) – The reach and number of H7N9 infections in China continued to expand over the past 3 days, with Hunan province reporting its first case and four others reporting six more, lifting the outbreak's total to 126, according to the latest official and media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Taking a cue from curious findings noted during the 2009 influenza pandemic, Canadian researchers are suggesting that past exposure to distantly related viruses may help explain why the age curve in H7N9 cases is so skewed to the older side.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued an update on routine preparedness steps it is taking to protect the country if the novel H7N9 virus in China starts spreading among humans.

(CIDRAP News) – Fujian province today reported its first H7N9 influenza case—the ninth area of eastern China to be affected by the virus—as other provinces reported six more infections, raising the outbreak total to 119.

In a pattern seen throughout the outbreak so far, most of the newly reported cases are in men, and many of the patients are older.

Apr 26, 2013

(CIDRAP News) – A new study suggests that a lab-derived hybrid H5N1 influenza virus that is capable of airborne transmission among ferrets may well be capable of doing the same thing in humans.

(CIDRAP News) – Two of China's provinces today reported three more H7N9 influenza infections, while another province awaits test results for what may be its first case, according to official and media reports today.

(CIDRAP News) – A genetic comparison of an H7N9 virus from a critically ill Chinese patient with a chicken H7N9 isolate from one of the markets he likely visited showed close similarity, providing the strongest evidence yet that market poultry are a source of the virus, a Chinese research team reported today.

Apr 25, 2013

(CIDRAP News) – Taiwan health officials today announced that a 53-year-old man who had recently traveled to China is hospitalized in critical condition with a novel H7N9 infection, the first such case to be detected outside of China.