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Probable H7N9 human transmission identified
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One Chinese patient infected with influenza A H7N9 most likely became ill following direct contact with an infected family member, according to recent study findings.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of probable transmissibility of this novel virus from person to person with detailed epidemiological, clinical, and virological data,” researchers in China wrote. “The importance of an isolated case of such transmission means there is potential for greater human to human transmission. Thus, timely detection as well as rapid investigation and risk assessments of clusters is critically important as the increase in clusters might indicate potential transmissibility of a novel virus.”
Researchers discovered that the index patient (father) became ill 5 to 6 days after exposure to poultry. His daughter provided bedside care in the hospital and was otherwise healthy, but developed symptoms 6 days after her last contact with her father. Two strains were isolated from the infected, and both viruses were almost genetically identical. Both patients later died.
“The infection of the daughter probably resulted from contact with her father (the index patient) during unprotected exposure, suggesting that in this cluster the virus was able to transmit from person to person,” researchers wrote. “The transmissibility was limited and nonsustainable.”
Also, according to WHO, the first new laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with H7N9 since July 20 has been reported to the organization. The woman, aged 51 years, became ill on July 27, was admitted to a local hospital on July 28 and later to a hospital is Huizhou City on Aug. 3. Testing for H7N9 was conducted on Aug. 9 and confirmed positive. The report said the woman is in critical condition.
To date, there have been 135 laboratory-confirmed human cases of H7N9, 44 of which resulted in deaths.
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