Hong Kong Reveals First Human H7N9 Bird Flu Case

Hong Kong is on public-health alert following the city’s confirmation on its first human case of the deadly H7N9 or the bird flu. The government of Hong Kong announced that a 36-year-old woman visited Shenzhen last month and reported to have direct contact with poultry, the woman turned ill and shortly thereafter was hospitalized for six days.



Shortly, the government further stated that those people with whom the infected woman had close contact with her are now manifesting minor respiratory symptoms and are being isolated in a hospital for further observation. Hong Kong Health Secretary Ko Wing-man said that the government already raised its influenza pandemic response level to "serious" from "alert." Likewise, the city's Centre for Health Protection is currently in search of the person who travelled with the woman to Shenzhen.


Source: Reuters

As a result, Hong Kong has to suspend the import of live poultry from three Shenzhen farms notifying Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization about the case. Authorities immediately responded and they are now conducting visits to all local chicken farms to ensure that poultry markets adhere to infection control measures.

The H7N9 virus was confirmed to jump from birds to humans for the first time in March following China's state media report regarding two people in Shanghai died after being infected with the virus the previous month. The number of human H7N9 infections in China has dropped significantly in recent months. The World Health Organization stated that there has been no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of the said virus.

Hong Kong now has a strong system of infectious-disease control and monitoring following several outbreaks including SARS. Since the SARS crisis, Hong Kong has set up permanent body temperature checks at all borders to ensure strict monitoring of infectious diseases.

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