The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed the first death from bird flu in the world. The 56-year-old woman, who lived in Guangdong Province, China, started showing symptoms on February 22. On March 3, she had to be hospitalized for severe pneumonia and died on the 16th of the same month. On the 27th, the Chinese government confirmed that the patient was infected with the H3N8 virus, which causes avian flu.
The case was detected through the surveillance system for severe acute respiratory infections. The woman had comorbidities and a history of exposure to live birds before the onset of symptoms of the disease, in addition to contact with wild birds inside her own home.
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According to the WHO, only three cases of avian flu have been identified in humans worldwide – all in China. “An epidemiological investigation and close contact tracing were carried out. No other cases were found among people close to the infected individual.
“Based on available information, the virus does not appear to have the ability to spread easily from person to person and therefore the risk of human-to-human spread at national, regional and international levels is considered low,” the organization said. “However, due to the constantly evolving nature of viruses influenzaWHO emphasizes the importance of global surveillance to detect virological, epidemiological and clinical changes associated with viruses influenza circulating.”
Understand
Avian flu viruses are commonly detected in animals around the world. They are some of the most frequently found subtypes in birds, causing little or no signs of illness in domestic and wild birds. So-called cross-species transmission of H3N8 has been reported in several mammals, including endemically among dogs and horses.
Brazil
On the 30th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply published an ordinance that suspended, throughout the national territory, the holding of exhibitions, tournaments, fairs and other events with agglomeration of birds. The measure, of a preventive nature, has an initial validity of 90 days and was taken due to the risk of entry and dissemination of cases of avian flu in the country.
In January, a technical note from the folder already warned of the need to adopt preventive measures against avian flu due to the increase in notification of cases in several countries. At the time, the federal government determined an increase in health surveillance activities in poultry establishments by state animal health surveillance agencies.
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