Deadly H7N9 avian flu spreads between humans

A potentially deadly strain of avian (bird) influenza virus appears to have transmitted between humans for the very first time.

Research published online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claims that the avian influenza A (H7N9) virus which has claimed dozens of lives in China this year, had been passed from a 60-year-old man to his 32-year-old daughter who was caring for him at the time.

The father and daughter lived in eastern China and the father had made frequent trips to a live poultry market. He suddenly became ill just days following his latest visit back in March and later died on 4 May due to multiple organ failure.

However, the man’s daughter had developed symptoms of her own just six days after her father’s admittance into hospital and actually died ten days before he did, on 24 April. She was in good health before caring for her father and had apparently not been in contact with any live poultry, which means the virus must have been passed to her from her father. Investigations later confirmed an identical virus strain in both patients.

Dr Peter Horby, senior clinical research fellow at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Hanoi, Vietnam, said: “The most likely source of infection for the daughter was her father, during the period that she cared from him whilst he was ill.”

He alleviated fears over other strains of avian flu however, noting that avian flu has been in existence for more than a decade and that they “have not progressed any further down the path towards a pandemic virus”. Dr Horby also said human-to-human transmission had been minimal for strains H5N1 and H7N7, and the swine origin flu virus H3N2v.

Up until the end of June, within China there had been in excess of 130 cases reported and 43 deaths since February. Despite Dr Horby’s assertions, there is huge fear that the outbreak could now spread amongst humans at a rapid rate.

According to available evidence, in the majority of instances the effected people had previously visited live poultry farms or had come into contact with live poultry approximately seven to 10 days prior to the emergence of their symptoms.

Symptoms begin with a high fever, cough and a shortness of breath. Often, the sufferer will then develop more severe illness such as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), septic shock and multi-organ failure leading to death.

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) state that no vaccine for avian influenza A(H7N9) infections in humans is currently available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for the treatment of H7N9 because many of the H7N9 viruses that have been studied are likely susceptible (sensitive) to this medication.

It is estimated that Britain attracts around 179,000 Chinese tourists a year, and it only takes one person carrying the virus for an outbreak to erupt and spread between people.

Tamiflu is available today through Medical Specialists Pharmacy from as little as £21.98 per pack of 10 capsules. You can buy Tamiflu online with or without a prescription at Medical Specialists, after completing a simple online consultation.

Bird flu identified at a Suffolk Bernard Matthews poultry farm

All movements in or out of a Bernard Matthews poultry has been immediately halted following the discovery of a strain of bird flu, leaving thousands of chickens and turkeys at risk of being culled.

Government officials demanded the lockdown on the premises in Suffolk as a precautionary measure despite Environment agency Defra stating that the outbreak did not involve either the H5 or H7 strains – potentially deadly when contracted by humans.

A Defra spokesman said: “We are awaiting further laboratory test results from an ongoing investigation into suspect avian disease at a premises in the South East. The premises remains under restriction pending further results. Public Health England are aware and are ready to take the necessary action pending further test results.”

Bernard Matthews released a statement via a spokesman, saying: “Bernard Matthews can confirm that Defra have undertaken tests for avian influenza on one of its farms following notification by the company after some birds showed signs of ill health over the weekend. The tests have detected the presence of an avian influenza virus, but Defra have confirmed it is not the highly pathogenic types H5 or H7. As a precaution, the farm remains currently under movement restrictions but these are expected to be lifted in the next few days. Bernard Matthews’ other operations continue to run as normal.”

Employees at the Suffolk Bernard Matthews farm are already familiar with avian (bird) flu outbreaks after the infamous 2007 outbreak of the H5N1 strain which proved disastrous for the company. Around 160,000 turkeys had to be slaughtered to stop a crisis that threatened to spiral out of control with 320 workers given anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu to protect them from flu and 130 workers were made redundant following the company losing £20 million in lost sales and other costs.

At the time, experts claimed that they believed the outbreak started after contaminated meat was imported from Hungary to the company’s processing plant next to the farm. This time however, workers at the Suffolk farm are almost certain that the government restrictions will be lifted in the next few days as there is no evidence of the H5 or H7 strain being present.

The restrictions in Suffolk occur after the deadly outbreak of a new bird flu strain known as H7N9 in China. So far, 17 deaths have occurred from the 82 people known to have contracted a virus that is still causing confusion for health experts as it is unclear if some of those affected actually came into contact with poultry and as of yet, there is no current evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission but worryingly, Zeng Guang, chief scientist in charge of epidemiology at the China Disease Prevention and Control Centre (CDPCC), has claimed that around 40% of human victims seem to have no apparent history of poultry exposure.

Of the 17 deaths, 11 have occurred in China’s commercial capital; Shanghai. In addition, tens of thousands of chickens have had to be slaughtered. In total, the Chinese H7N9 bird flu outbreak has caused their poultry industry to record losses in excess of $1.6 billion (£1.05 billion).

Poultry slaughtered in Shanghai after deadly bird flu outbreak

Just days after Chinese authorities confirmed the presence of a new strain of avian influenza – H7N9 – it has now been reported there has been a total of 14 cases of the new flu, with six cases of these fatal after the deadly bird flu claimed the life of a 64-year-old farmer from Zhejiang province.

He is now the second victim from the Zhejiang province of a problem that threatens to spiral into a human pandemic, whilst the other four victims are believed to have died in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

Shanghai authorities have stated another person is currently receiving treatment for flu-like symptoms. The deadly strain, previously unknown in people, is known to only be present in wild birds and as of yet, no instances of human-to-human transmission have been reported. This is despite China’s disease control agency managing to track down hundreds of people who have come into contact with the 14 infected people.

Chinese authorities received fierce criticism in their delay in reporting the first two casualties.  The first two deaths occurred back in February and were not reported until late into March. The Health Ministry in Beijing tried to deflect criticism though, arguing it took a while to determine how the people died, adding it “will continue to openly and transparently maintain communication and information channels with the World Health Organisation and relevant countries and regions, and strengthen monitoring and preventive measures.”

Thorough analysis is still being conducted in China into the new bird flu, but Japan and Hong Kong are wasting no time in preventing a mass outbreak of the virus. The latter have raised a preliminary alert, activating the ‘Alert Response Level’; safeguarding against a potential influenza pandemic through the close monitoring of chicken farms, vaccination, culling drills, and a ceasing of live birds being imported from the mainland. Meanwhile, in Japan, there are now posters at airport entry points that stress passengers coming into the country from China must seek medical attention if they believe they could have bird flu.  In addition, Vietnam has now stopped all imports of Chinese poultry.

Shanghai has shut down its poultry markets because of the H7N9 bird flu outbreak after a spokesman for the city authorities stating it was necessary for public safety. A mass slaughter of at least 20,000 birds is already underway following the discovery that pigeons being sold at Huhuai market had the virus.

Different types of bird flu have been circulating in varying severity for several years, such as H5N1 virus. This is a subtype of the Influenza A virus and is more commonly referred to as ‘bird flu’ or ‘avian influenza’. Though it is primarily considered an avian virus, and transmitted from bird-to-human, there have been some instances of a human-to-human transmission of the virus.

“The gene sequences confirm that this is an avian virus, and that it is a low pathogenic form (meaning it is likely to cause mild disease in birds),” said Wendy Barclay, a flu virologist at Britain’s Imperial College London. She continued: “But what the sequences also reveal is that there are some mammalian adapting mutations in some of the genes.”

There is currently no definite cure for either of the two strains of flu mentioned above. However it is widely acknowledged that oseltamivir (marketed by Roche as Tamiflu), effectively helps to prevent the influenza virus from spreading inside the body. The medication has even been at the core of many governments and organisation’s efforts previously when anticipating a potential flu pandemic. It is available through Medical Specialists Pharmacy from as little as £21.98 per pack after we dramatically lowered the price of Tamiflu to help all new and existing patients during this difficult recession.