Beijing — China’s National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed a 41-year-old man as the first person infected with the H10N3 strain of bird flu on Tuesday (Jun 1).
The man, from Zhenjiang in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, was hospitalised on April 28 after developing a fever.
According to the NHC, the man contracted the H10N3 strain of bird flu, which is less severe than others and has a relatively low risk of spreading on a large scale.
The NHC did not add how the man was infected with the virus. He is stable and ready to be discharged, it said and added that none of the man’s close contacts were found with the virus.
The last human epidemic of bird flu in China occurred in late 2016 to 2017, when people came down with the H7N9 virus.
The H7N9 has infected 1,668 people and claimed 616 lives since 2013, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.
According to healthhub.sg, there are three types of influenza viruses — A, B, and C. Only types A and B cause significant disease in humans. Strains of influenza A include A/H1N1 and the avian influenza A/H5N1.
Avian influenza viruses normally affect poultry, such as domesticated chickens, ducks and turkeys. Several strains of H7 viruses have also been found in birds, including influenza A/H7N9.
There have been no cases of A/H7N9 influenza detected in Singapore, either in humans or poultry, according to healthhub.sg. /TISG