H7N9 : Hunan Province Reports 2nd Case In Two Days

# 10,970

Between Hong Kong CHP's tracking and the terrific work done by Sharon Sanders with FluTracker's H7N9 line listing, we've seen just over two dozen H7N9 cases announced by Chinese authorities since the fall flu season began.

While China earned praise during the first two H7N9 epidemic seasons for their daily updates on cases, for the past year we've seen the quality and quantity of reporting drop to abysmal levels. 

Earlier this week a Chinese media report alluded to there being nearly 20 unannounced cases (see China reports H7N9 since September last year 44 cases), but where they occurred - and when - isn't known.  


Over the past two days we've seen Xinhau reports announcing two recent H7N9 cases in Hunan Province (details below), and today's report indicates that Hunan has reported 5 cases since the 1st of the year.

A bit of a surprise because until yesterday, they'd only reported one.

 First an excerpt from yesterday's CHP announcement, followed by today's Xinhua report.

4 February 2016
CHP closely monitors additional human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in Mainland 

     The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) is today (February 4) closely monitoring an additional human case of avian influenza A(H7N9) in the Mainland, and again urged the public to maintain strict personal, food and environmental hygiene both locally and during travel.

     According to the Health and Family Planning Commission (HFPC) of Hunan Province, the 60-year-old male patient lived in Yongzhou, Hunan. 

(Continue . . .)

New human H7N9 case reported in central China

CHANGSHA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A new human H7N9 avian flu case was reported in central China's Hunan Province Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to five, local authorities said.

A 48-year-old man surnamed Xie died Thursday at a hospital in Yongzhou City, the provincial health and family planning commission said in a press release.

Xie, a native of Lingling District in Yongzhou, sought medication Wednesday and was diagnosed of human H7N9 avian flu. The immediate cause of his death was liver and kidney failures, the document said.

But it did not say how Xie contracted the illness.

Hunan Province has reported five cases of human H7N9 avian flu since the beginning of this year. Two of the patients have died and the other three are still receiving treatment, the document said.

Sporadic human H7N9 cases have been reported in Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian. H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in March 2013 in China. It is most likely to strike in winter and spring.

While H7N9 activity appears lighter this winter in China than in previous years, the lack of dependable reporting out of China makes it very difficult to put a lot of faith in appearances.