China’s Guizhou Reports Human H7N9 Case

Guiyang (PNA/Xinhua) — Another human case of the H7N9 strain of avian flu strain has been found in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, the provincial health authority said on Wednesday.

The patient, 44, has had a fever since last Thursday. A hospital in Guiyang city initially diagnosed a lung infection, but test results on Tuesday confirmed the patient was infected with H7N9.

An investigation confirms that the patient, whose family work at a slaughter house, had been in recent contact with live poultry.

People who have been in close contact with the patient are not showing any signs of the virus.

The Guiyang government has shut all markets that sell live birds for seven days following the confirmed case, vowing to punish anyone who violates the ban.

Winter and spring are a high-incidence period for bird flu. Thousands of chickens have been culled in south China’s Guangdong Province and Hong Kong this year.

There have been 44 confirmed cases of H7N9 human infection in Guangdong this year including the one reported on Tuesday. Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang in east China all reported cases this winter.

H7N9 was first found in humans in March 2013. (PNA/Xinhua) LAM/RSM