World's First H10N3 Avian Influenza Case In Humans Reported By China

Ilustrasi China. (Wikimedia Commons/li yong)

JAKARTA - A 41-year-old man in China's Jiangsu Province has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 virus, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the NHC said the man, who is a resident of Zhenjiang City, was hospitalized on April 28 after developing a fever and other symptoms.

"He was diagnosed with the H10N3 Avian Influenza virus on May 28", the statement said but gave no details on how the man became infected with the virus.

"H10N3 is a low-pathogenic, or relatively mild, the strain of the virus in poultry and the risk of its spread on a large scale is very low", the NHC added.

However, the NHC said the man was in stable condition and ready to be discharged from the hospital. Medical observations of his close contacts found no other cases.

To note, many different strains of Avian Influenza are found in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those who work with poultry.

There have been no significant numbers of Avian Influenza infections in humans since the H7N9 strain killed about 300 people during 2016-2017.

"No other case of human infection with H10N3 has ever been reported globally", concluded the NHC.