WHO: new bird flu strain ‘one of the most lethal’

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new strain of bird flu that has killed 22 people in China is "one of the most lethal" of its kind and is more easily transmissible to humans than an earlier strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003, a top World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Wednesday, April 24, according to Reuters.

The H7N9 virus has infected 108 people in China since it was first detected in March, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Although it is not clear exactly how people have been infected, WHO experts see no evidence so far of the most worrisome scenario - sustained transmission between people.

An international team of experts led by the WHO and the Chinese government conducted a five-day investigation in China, but said they were no closer to determining whether the virus could become transmissible between people.

Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security, said "the situation remains complex and difficult and evolving.

"When we look at influenza viruses, this is an unusually dangerous virus for humans," Fukuda said at a briefing, also naming the previous H5N1 strain that killed 30 of the 45 people infected in China between 2003 and 2013.

Although the H7N9 strain in the current outbreak has a lower fatality rate to date, he added: "This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses that we've seen so far."

Fukuda stressed that the team is still at the beginning of its investigation and that "we may just be seeing the most serious infections" at this point.

The team of experts said what was mystifying about the latest virus is the absence of visible illness in poultry, "making it harder to track and control".

Fukuda also said that based on the evidence, "this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than (the) H5N1" virus, which has killed 371 people globally since 2003.