China detected an influenza A / H5N1 outbreak near Wuhan

On February 1, China detected an outbreak of influenza A / H5N1 (avian flu) near the center of the new Corona virus (2019-nCoV) epidemic zone in central China, the South China Morning Post reported. believe.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced: 'An outbreak has been detected on a farm in Songcheng District, Shaoyang City (Hunan Province). The farm has 7,850 chickens and 4,500 of which died from infection. Local officials have culled 17,828 poultry after the outbreak.

Currently, China has not recorded cases of influenza A / H5N1 virus transmitted to humans in the outbreak.

Chinese officials destroyed chickens infected with influenza A / H5N1 virus during the 2013 outbreak. (Image: NYT)

Influenza A / H5N1 virus, commonly known as avian influenza virus , is a virus that causes respiratory diseases in birds . This strain was first discovered in 1996 in China.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this virus has the ability to infect humans . Most people are infected through direct contact with infected poultry. However, the world already has a vaccine to prevent this virus.

The danger of this virus is the high death rate of infected people. According to statistics of the South China Morning Post over the past 15 years, the number of deaths accounts for about 60% of all human infections, much higher than the SARS virus (about 10%) or the new Corona virus (about 2 %).

An outbreak of influenza A / H5N1 was discovered amid China's full effort to control the spread of the 2019-nCoV virus. There have been 259 deaths after infection with the 2019-nCoV virus (all in China), while the number of global infections surpassed 12,000.

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