The first patient in the world died of H5N6 flu

A 49-year-old man in Sichuan Province, southwestern China died of the H5N6 bird flu virus.

This is the first death in the world due to infection with this bird flu virus.

The China News Agency reported that the man living in Nanping County, Nanping City, Sichuan Province, had contact with dead poultry infected with the disease. Victims died after being diagnosed with acute pneumonia.

The website of the Sichuan provincial government said the man was seriously ill since April 22, but it was unclear when he appeared to be infected and died.

Test results of a specimen taken from chickens raised on a farm in Nam Bo district on April 23 gave positive results for avian influenza virus.

Avian influenza is making chicken farmers in China reel.(Photo: Voanews)

Last 3/5, the National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory has determined that this is the H5N6 strain. 1,338 birds have been destroyed and chickens in nearby areas are being monitored, but the functional forces have not discovered anything unusual.

Experts consider this to be a special case and the risk of human-to-human transmission is very low because no one has developed symptoms among people who have been in close contact with death patients.

Professor Tran Tac of the Shanghai Biological Products Research Institute said: "The public does not need to be too worried. The Chinese government will strengthen monitoring and monitoring ".

However, Professor Vien Quoc Dung, a microbiologist at Hong Kong University, said that no one knows in this case how H5N6 causes disease and spreads to humans.

According to the professor, although all chickens in Mainland China will receive the H5N1 vaccine, the H5 gene in this H5N6 strain may be very different from the H5 gene for the H5N1 vaccine. So there can still be an outbreak.

Last year, three strains of the H7N9, H10N8 and H6N1 avian influenza viruses first infected humans, and all of these cases are in China. About one fifth of 419 H7N9 infections have died.