China Reports First Human Bird Flu Death

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Facts

• A 56-year-old woman from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong is the first person known to have died from a type of bird flu that is rare in humans, H3N8, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement Tuesday.¹
• The woman was the third person to contract the H3N8 strain, which doesn’t appear to spread between people, but the first to die from it.¹
• The WHO said the woman, who had pre-existing medical conditions, including cancer, was admitted to the hospital with severe pneumonia after falling ill in February and died last month. All three people who contracted H3N8 in China are thought to have been exposed to the virus at live poultry markets.²
• Sporadic infections in people with bird flu occur frequently in China, where avian flu viruses constantly circulate in huge populations of poultry and wild birds. Samples collected from a wet market visited by the woman before she became ill were positive for influenza A(H3), indicating that may have been the source of infection.³
• The WHO said the likelihood of human-to-human spread of H3N8 is low, but it also emphasized the importance of global surveillance to detect any changes in influenza viruses, as these viruses constantly evolve.⁴
• The WHO recommends countries encourage the public to avoid contact with live poultry markets and surfaces contaminated by animal feces to minimize the threat of contagion.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³CNBC, ⁴South china morning post and ⁵La prensa latina media.

Narratives

• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Daily Mail. China was late in reporting this case for a month, and hopefully, the consequences won’t be the same as when Beijing delayed its reporting of the first COVID cases. We already saw H5N1 cause the world’s biggest bird flu outbreak, and it’s difficult to predict what will become of H3N8 as vaccine makers wait at the ready in case of a sustained zoonotic spillover event.
• Pro-China narrative, as provided by Ctvnews. There’s no cause for alarm or blame. It’s very rare for H3N8 to infect humans, and the US is prepared for fighting bird flu because of its experience with H5N1. As long as people adhere to the guidelines from the PRC's Center for Disease Control and Prevention — including minimizing exposure to poultry farms and bird markets, and avoiding eating undercooked poultry markets — this outbreak can be contained to just birds.

Predictions