Bird Flu Kills 1, Critically Sickens 2 In China's Southwest - Health Authorities

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2021) Three cases of H5N6 avian influenza were registered in China's Sichuan province, with one of the infected dead and two other remaining in critical state, the Hong Kong Health Department said on Friday.

The one fatality was confirmed in Xuanhan County in a 51-year-old woman. First symptoms were detected on June 25, she was hospitalized on July 3 and died one day later.

The second infected is a 57-year-old man from the city of Ziyang. He developed fever on June 22 and was hospitalized on July 5. The third case, a 66-year-old man from the city of Chongqing, developed symptoms on June 23 and was hospitalized on July 4. Both of them are currently in critical state.

All three cases were confirmed to have had contact with domestic birds.

The first human case of H5N6 bird flu was detected in Sichuan in mid-July. Disease control and prevention experts assessed it as a bird-to-human transmission with low risk of developing into a human-to-human outbreak.

The World Health Organization classifies H5N6 strain of bird flu as a highly pathogenic virus. Such zoonotic viral infections can take a form of a mild upper respiratory tract infection, causing fever, coughing, and sputum production, while complications may lead to severe pneumonia, sepsis and septic shock, acute respiratory failure syndrome and death.