Avian influenza outbreak continues to infect people in China

In the last few weeks, an additional 58 people have been infected with avian influenza (H7N9) on the mainland of China as well as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). The majority of people had direct contact with live poultry or poultry farms and officials are looking into the other cases.

Advice

During the past few years, sporadic reports of people infected with avian influenza (H7N9) have been received from various provinces in China, including Hong Kong. This virus causes a severe and often fatal respiratory infection in humans and is universally fatal in poultry, especially chickens. Most of the cases have been in people who have close contact with chickens that carry this virus, especially people working in the live chicken markets where they are slaughtered.

The risk for the general traveller is extremely low, since person-to-person spread of this flu strain is rare. However, the risk of exposure can be minimized by avoiding visiting live poultry markets where the virus may be found.