Health officials with the Health and Family Planning Commission of Jiangxi Province are reporting on two additional human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9).
Details on the cases reveal they are a mother and adult son. The female patient aged 43 and her son aged 23 live in Taihe, Ji’an, and work in Jinjiang, Fujian. They have been hospitalized in Nanchang in stable condition.
These are the 13th and 14th cases reported in the province since 2013.
From 2013 to date, 738 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) have been reported by the Mainland health authorities.
In addition, 22 cases imported from China have been reported in Canada (2), Hong Kong (15), Malaysia (1) and Taiwan (4).
Avian influenza (AI) is caused by those influenza viruses that mainly affect birds and poultry, such as chickens or ducks. These AI viruses are distinct from human seasonal influenza viruses. Since the AI viruses does not commonly infect human, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. People mainly become infected with AI through direct contact with infected birds and poultry (live or dead), their droppings or contaminated environments.
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