The world's first death from H3N8 bird flu in China

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement on April 11, a Chinese woman died from H3N8 bird flu. This is the first human death due to this strain of bird flu.

The patient is a 56-year-old woman from Guangdong province, southeast China. She fell ill on February 22, was hospitalized with severe pneumonia on March 3 and died on March 16, Straits Times quoted the WHO announcement.

The woman is the third patient infected with the H3N8 bird flu virus. (Illustration).

'The patient had many underlying diseases and had a history of contact with live poultry before the illness developed. The surrounding area where the patient lives has also seen wild birds,' WHO added.

The woman is the third patient infected with the H3N8 bird flu virus. The first two cases were two boys in China discovered in 2022.

According to the WHO report, this woman is believed to have contracted the virus at a wet market. Scientists collected samples positive for the H3N8 avian influenza virus when tracing the patient's exposure at this market.

This case is unrelated to the H5N1 avian flu pandemic that has devastated poultry and wild bird populations around the world over the past 18 months. There is currently no evidence that the H3N8 avian influenza virus can be transmitted from person to person.

WHO also added : "No person in close contact with the above case was infected with the virus or had symptoms of virus infection as of the time of reporting."

The H3N8 avian flu virus has been detected in many mammals before, including horses and dogs.

Scientists have discovered many types of bird flu, with viruses described by two different proteins - hemagglutinin and neuraminidase (symbolized by the letters H and N).

To date, there are only 6 types of avian influenza viruses that infect humans (H5, H6, H7, H8, H9 and H10 viruses) . Two strains H5N1 and H7N9 account for the majority of infections , according to the Telegraph.