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Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Description: (General discussion regarding the next pandemic)
URL: http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=36609 Printed Date: April 26 2024 at 12:39pm
Topic: H7N9 still evolving.Posted By: jacksdad
Subject: H7N9 still evolving.
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 8:58am
Remember that flu thing? Still out there, and probably far likelier to kill you than most (but not all...) political figures. Maybe we should talk about this for a change, because for many of us this is the real news.
"During
2017, there were 14 clusters of cases in which a person passed the
disease to at least one other person." Let that sink in. Fourteen clusters just this year alone. Someone now catches H7N9 from another human every 2 1/2 weeks
Deadly Bird Flu In China Evolves, Spreads To New Regions
A patient with the H7N9 avian flu is treated in a
hospital in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province, in February of
this year. The 2017 outbreak was the deadliest in China since H7N9 first
appeared in humans in 2013.
This past year China had the largest outbreak of a deadly bird flu since the virus was first detected in March 2013.
For the past five years, China has had annual waves of H7N9 outbreaks that peak around January and February.
During
the 2017 season, the country reported nearly the same number of cases
as all four previous years combined, researchers at the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention report Thursday. The virus cropped up in
more geographic regions. And it showed signs of evolving in ways that
cause concern.
As NPR reported in April, the virus has picked up http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/04/11/523271148/why-chinese-scientists-are-more-worried-than-ever-about-bird-flu" rel="nofollow - mutations
that make it more deadly in poultry and less susceptible to antiviral
treatments. "Our research shows it can kill all the chickens in our lab
within 24 hours," virologist http://sph.hku.hk/en/about-us/faculty-and-staff/academic-staff/guan,-yi" rel="nofollow - Guan Yi told NPR.
H7N9 isn't your run-of-the-mill bird flu. H7N9 is "the influenza virus with the highest potential pandemic risk," the CDC https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6635a2.htm?s_cid=mm6635a2_w" rel="nofollow - writes in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In
people, H7N9 can cause a severe form of pneumonia and progress into
septic shock and multiorgan failure. "We know of only a small number of
people who presented with influenza-like symptoms and then recovered
without medical attention," the World Health Organization http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/faq_H7N9/en/" rel="nofollow - says .
During the 2017 outbreak, the Chinese government reported
759 cases of H7N9. There were 281 deaths — about a third of those
infected. By comparison in 2016 and 2015, the country reported 123 and
226 cases, respectively.
Although H7N9 has potential to evolve
in a global threat, right now it has one severe limitation that
restricts its potential to spread: The virus doesn't transmit easily
between people. About 90 percent of people catch the virus by handling
poultry.
But person-to-person transmission is possible. During
2017, there were 14 clusters of cases in which a person passed the
disease to at least one other person.
Since
March 2013, there have been 1,557 cases of H7N9 reported worldwide. All
infections were caught in China, Hong Kong or Macao. Nearly 40 percent
of those infections were deadly.
------------- "Buy it cheap. Stack it deep" "Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
Replies: Posted By: Technophobe
Date Posted: September 12 2017 at 9:11am
That is the scary one!
Not the Australian one - inflated in numbers by a new reporting system and which kills the very old and very young, as flu often does, not the young adult like the Chinese strain above. It is even covered by the current flu vaccine.
Our NHS is worried about the Australian flu, but it is this one which scares me.
------------- How do you tell if a politician is lying? His lips or pen are moving.