5 March 2014 - On 4 March 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China notified WHO of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
The patient is a 59 year-old man from Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province. He became ill on 26 February, was admitted to a hospital on 1 March and died on 2 March. The patient has a history of exposure to live poultry.
The Chinese Government has taken the following surveillance and control measures:
The overall risk assessment has not changed (see WHO Risk Assessment under ´Related links´).
The previous report of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus detection in live poultry exported from mainland China to Hong Kong SAR shows the potential for the virus to spread through movement of live poultry, at this time there is no indication that international spread of avian influenza A(H7N9) has occurred. However as the virus infection does not cause signs of disease in poultry, continued surveillance is needed.
Further sporadic human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) infection are expected in affected and possibly neighbouring areas.
Should human cases from affected areas travel internationally, their infection may be detected in another country during or after arrival. If this were to occur, community level spread is unlikely as the virus does not have the ability to transmit easily among humans. Until the virus adapts itself for efficient human-to-human transmission, the risk of ongoing international spread of H7N9 virus by travellers is low.