Bird flu in Hong Kong

The initial individual case of fowl flu in seven years has been identified in Hong Kong, wellness officials stated Thursday, urging the public to consider precautions. A 59-year-old woman was hospitalized in severe situation following a trip to mainland China, the Hong Kong Department of Wellness stated. Her sickness was identified as influenza A (H5), a variant of fowl flu. It was unclear where she experienced contracted the illness. She did not have any get in touch with with reside poultry and did not visit farms whilst in China, Hong Kong wellness officials stated. Her 60-year-old husband created feasible signs and symptoms of fowl flu, but has recovered. Hong Kong wellness officials have stepped up surveillance by testing patients with serious pneumonia for fowl flu. Additionally they have launched a hotline to solution inquiries from the public, and are working with wellness officials in mainland China to watch any occurrences. Avian influenza does not usually infect species apart from birds and pigs. But people arrived down with fowl flu in Hong Kong in 1997, using the H5N1 strain infecting 18 people, six of whom died. Then, individuals became infected following coming into near get in touch with with reside infected poultry. Genetic studies showed the virus experienced jumped from birds to people, and triggered serious sickness with higher mortality. Hong Kong's entire poultry population, believed at 1. 5 million birds, was destroyed within three days. That's thought to possess averted a pandemic. When people arrived down with H5N1 fowl flu in Hong Kong in 1997, patients created signs and symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and, in a number of from the fatal instances, serious respiratory distress secondary to viral pneumonia. Antiviral medicines could be utilized to treat and prevent fowl flu in people, but it can consider months to create a vaccine in substantial quantities for a new virus subtype, according towards the World Wellness Organization. All birds are thought to be susceptible towards the avian influenza, though some species, for example wild ducks, are much more resistant than others. Domesticated poultry, for example chickens or turkeys, are particularly susceptible. Infection triggers a wide spectrum of signs and symptoms in birds, ranging from mild sickness to a highly contagious and rapidly fatal illness resulting in epidemics. In serious instances, the flu is characterized by a sudden onset of serious sickness, and fast death, with a mortality that may strategy one hundred percent.

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