Bird flu strain confirmed in humans by China 5 years after variant killed 300 people – World News

China has confirmed the first case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu five years after a variant of the disease killed 300 people.

A 41-year-old man, from Zhenjiang in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was hospitalised on April 28 after developing a fever and other symptoms.

The country’s National Health Commission said the man was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus on May 28.

He is said to be in a stable condition and ready to be discharged from hospital.

No details have been disclosed on how the man had been infected with the virus.

The NHC said no other cases have been found in his close contacts.

The most common symptoms of bird flu are a high temperature, aching muscles, headache and a cough, according to the NHS website.

The disease, which is not common among humans, can be spread by close contact with an infected bird – dead or alive.

Close contact includes touching birds, droppings or bedding and also killing or preparing infected poultry for cooking.

However, you cannot catch the disease by eating fully cooked poultry or eggs, even in areas with an outbreak of bird flu, the NHS says.

H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus in poultry and the risk of it spreading on a large scale was very low, the NHC added.

The strain is “not a very common virus,” said Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases.

He said there have only been around 160 isolates of the virus over the course of 40 years until 2018.

The cases were mostly reported in wild birds or waterfowl in Asia and some limited parts of North America, and none had been detected in chickens so far, he added.

Analysing the genetic data of the virus will be necessary to determine whether it resembles older viruses or if it is a novel mix of different viruses, Mr Claes said.

Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry.

There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed around 300 people during 2016-2017.

No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally, the NHC said.

It comes days after a new investigation was launched to find out whether Covid-19 could have been leaked from a research laboratory in Wuhan.

British intelligence operatives reportedly believe it is “feasible” that the coronavirus pandemic began from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The Times says the development, which Beijing has angrily denied, has prompted US diplomatic sources to share their concerns “we are one wet market or bio lab away from the next spillover”.

MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, told The Times: “The silence coming from Wuhan is troubling.

“We need to open the crypt and see what happened to be able to protect ourselves in the future.

“That means starting an investigation, along with partners around the world and in the WHO.”