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After Covid19, China reports another first as man contracts H10N3 strain of bird flu

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 02 Jun 2021

After Covid19, China reports another first as man contracts H10N3 strain of bird flu

Image Credit: Pixabay

China reported the first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu on Tuesday in its eastern province of Jiangsu, the National Health Commission confirmed.

A 41-year-old man, who is a resident of the province, developed the symptoms on April 23 and was hospitalised three days later after his condition deteriorated, the health authority said in a statement.

On May 28, medical investigations revealed that he was infected with H10N3 strain.

The man is stable and would be discharged soon from the hospital, the authorities stated, adding that the patient's close relatives and contacts have not contracted the infection.

They said that a complete genome sequencing of the virus showed that it is of 'ávian' origin and has a low capability of infecting humans effectively.

H10N3 is considered to be of low virulence even among birds and this is the first time that it has been transmitted to a human.

According to experts, the case marks "accidental transmission of the virus from bird to human", however, they have added that the risk of large-scale spread is extremely low.

So far, the commission has not revealed how the man contracted the virus though it is the first case of transmission to a human.

With many different strains of the virus, China has reported avian flu from time-to-time but the infection among humans has been less frequent and mainly among those working in the poultry industry.

The H10N3 infection comes close on the heels of reports of highly infectious H5N6 avian flu found in birds in northeast China's Shenyang city.

In 2016 and 2017, the H7N9 avian flu virus had gripped China.

Since 2013, the strain has sickened 1,668 people and killed 616 people, United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China called for strong adherence to prevention protocols in poultry farms, markets and close monitoring of wild birds, post the avian flu infections in Eurasia and Africa.

The first ever transmission of H10N3 avian flu virus has attracted the attention of the world as COVID-19 was also first detected in China in 2019.

Experts worldwide are of the view that the novel coronavirus spread from a wet market in Wuhan in central China, where Wuhan Institute of Virology is located. As the infection spread in Wuhan and gradually engulfed the world, infecting and killing millions, theories like these gained momentum.

Since the novel coronavirus outbreak in late 2019, there have been continuous demands of investigation of these theories with countries across the world wanting China to take responsibility for the unprecedented devastation.

Recently, Ex-US Secretary of State Mike Pomepo claimed that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China was engaged in military activity alongside its civilian research.

He made the remark as renewed scrutiny of the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from the secretive lab.

"What I can say for sure is this: we know that they were engaged in efforts connected to the People's Liberation Army inside of that laboratory, so military activity being performed alongside what they claimed was just good old civilian research," Pompeo said on "Fox & Friends Weekend."

"They refuse to tell us what it was, they refuse to describe the nature of either of those, they refused to allow access to the World Health Organization when it tried to get in there," he said.

Last week, US President Joe Biden directed the country's intelligence agencies to submit a report to him within the next three months finding if the novel coronavirus first surfaced in China from an animal source or emerged from a laboratory accident, an AFP report said.

The agencies should redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days, Biden said in a statement released by the White House, according to the report.

The US President said the agencies are divided on two possible sources of the virus that spread across the world like wildfire claiming more than 3.4 million people, which the experts warn could be much higher.

Biden's order indicates further escalation in the controversy whether the virus was introduced into the human population through animal contact at a wet market in China's Wuhan, or leaked from a highly secure research laboratory there.

"As of today, the US intelligence community has 'coalesced around two likely scenarios' but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question," Biden said, according to the AFP report.

However, China has been shirking any responsibility for the spread of the pandemic and accused that the lab theory has been cooked by the US to attack Beijing.

China has also been accused of hiding information on the virus and its deadly nature amd making World Health Organisation (WHO) an ally in this endeavour. 

Experts have questioned Beijing's honesty over sharing timely information about the deadly nature and high transmissibility of coronavirus.

While the virus had infected several people in Wuhan in November 2019, the information came out only until the end of January 2020.

The lives lost in the two months could have been saved by taking effective precautions and better management of the movement of people, experts believe.