Authorities in China have recently confirmed the world’s first-ever human case of the H10N3 bird flu strain.
According to state reports, the person infected is a 41-year-old patient who is reportedly still under hospital care, despite contracting the virus over a month later. The news was confirmed by the country’s National Health Commission on Tuesday.
The patient was diagnosed with having the H10N3 strain of the bird influenza virus on the 28th of May.
Now, despite being in the hospital for over a month, he is doing well with medical experts terming his condition as stable. The patient is currently living in the Chinese province of Jiangsu, confirmed reports. However, authorities are yet to find any form of medical observation of the case relating to his close relatives or contacts.
The patient was admitted to the hospital’s premises on the 28th of April, right after he suffered from symptoms relating to fever and flu. Hence, after being taken to the hospital, he was tested positive for the avian strain but is now doing well. Local media outlets also spoke about how he is due to be released from the hospital soon too.
According to the NHC, the infection appears to be ‘accidental cross-species transmission.’ Moreover, they also claim that there was no evident indication about the H10N3 being able to spread easily across humans.
There are a number of different bird flu strains present in the country of China currently, with some having the capability of sporadically infecting humans too.
This includes those working in the poultry sector in particular such as chicken factories. However, experts do predict that only a very small fraction of the virus can actually jump from one person to another.
Globally, this is the first-ever case to be reported with regards to this particular avian influenza strain. China also reported how it was a mild strain and hence poses a low risk of resulting in a major outbreak around the world.