Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Government China reported the first case of transmission bird flu by the rare viral strain H10N3.
According to the Beijing National Health Commission (NHC) the first case was found in the city of Zhenjiang. However, the health authority did not provide further details on how the 41-year-old man got infected.
The NHC said it had conducted close contact tracing and found no similar cases and the risk of transmission was very low. In addition, WHO said no similar cases were found in other local residents.
1. One of the viruses that cause bird flu
The H10N3 virus is one of the viruses that cause bird flu. Because, besides H10N3 there are other types of viruses that cause the same disease.
Bird flu itself is common in poultry. Transmission from animals to humans is said to be relatively rare.
However, bird flu can cause death as in the case of the H7N9 bird flu virus strain. The virus killed about 300 people in China in the winter of 2016-2017. In addition, there were also cases of H5N1 bird flu which was transmitted from birds to humans, but was not transmitted between humans.
2. Rare virus
This virus is quite rare to infect birds. In addition, this virus is called a low pathogen or relatively mild, so it does not cause severe symptoms if infected.
This virus is considered rare because only about 160 virus isolates were reported in the last 40 years to 2018. This was stated by Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator of the FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases at the regional office for Asia and the Pacific.
3. The first case of transmission to humans
The first H10N3 bird flu virus infection in humans was on Tuesday (1/6). The bird flu virus variant was found in a 41-year-old man in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province who had a fever and other symptoms.
4. Just spread to one person
The H10N3 virus has only been found to be contagious in one person so it’s not too worrying for experts, but they will remain vigilant.
“As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is normal, but this serves as a reminder that the threat of an influenza pandemic persists,” the WHO told Reuters in a statement.
This is because the flu virus can mutate very quickly and mix with other viral strains circulating in farms or carried by migratory birds. Thus, the potential for viral mutations that change the genetics of the virus so that it can threaten humans is still possible, as reported Indian Express.
5. No evidence of human-to-human transmission has been found
WHO said there was no indication that this virus was transmitted between humans. So the risk of transmission on a large scale is very small.
This is because human-to-human transmission is the main factor in the spread of diseases such as what happened in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, experts say cases of this virus occur sporadically, aka spread.
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