China reports bird flu outbreak

This Sunday (02/02), China reported an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu in central Hunan province, near the coronavirus epicenter, which has killed over 300 people and brought the country to a standstill.

The outbreak occurred on a farm in Shuangqing district, Shaoyang city and killed 4,500 of the property’s 7,850 chickens. Local authorities culled another 17,828 birds nearby after the outbreak, according to a statement from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

It is noteworthy that no cases of human infection with the H5N1 virus have been reported in Hunan. Avian influenza causes serious respiratory diseases in birds and is contagious among humans. The virus was first detected in 1996 in geese in China and is lethal to birds.

The possibility of human to human transmission of avian influenza is low, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most human H1N5 infections appear after prolonged and close contact with infected birds.

However, avian influenza has a mortality rate in excess of 50%, far above severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), also known as atypical pneumonia, and which has a mortality rate of 10%, and also high above the new coronavirus, which has a 2% rate, so far.

Between 2003 and 2019, the WHO reported a total of 861 confirmed cases of H5N1 in humans, worldwide, among which 455 died. In China, there have been 53 human cases of bird flu infection in the past 16 years, and a total of 31 dead.

Source: Agência Brasil

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