WHO: H7N9 case count grows in China

Infection with influenza A(H7N9) continues to spread in China, as health officials there reported five additional cases and one death, according to WHO.

All of the patients except one had been exposed to poultry. The fatal case was identified as a 75-year-old woman from Zhuji City in Zhejiang province. She was hospitalized Jan. 5 and died Jan. 9.

Donald Kaye

The other most recent cases were reported from Shanghai, Guangzhou City in Guangdong province and Shenzhen City in Guangdong province.

According Donald Kaye, MD, an Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member, the recent increase in H7N9 cases in China may be due a lapse in disease control and surveillance.

“Perhaps there has been a relaxing of the surveillance of poultry and reopening of previously closed live poultry markets,” he said. “I doubt there has been an increase in virulence of the virus.”

Infectious Disease News Editor Emeritus Theodore C. Eickhoff, MD, agreed.

Theodore C. Eickhoff

“It’s flu season, as we know very well here in the US, so any flu virus lurking in the population is likely to emerge,” he said. “I wonder what else is going on in China as far as seasonal flu is concerned. Surely, there is more than just H5N1 and H7N9, but we aren’t hearing much about that. There’s no good evidence for increased virulence, and no sustained human-to-human transmission — thankfully.”