Disease outbreak news
23 December 2016

On 20 December 2016, the Department of Health (DOH), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) notified WHO of a case of laboratory-confirmed human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.

Details of the case

The case is a 75-year-old man who travelled to Dongguan, Guangdong province from 28 November to 9 December 2016. He developed chest discomfort on 8 December and he visited a hospital there. He returned to Hong Kong SAR on 9 December and was directly admitted to hospital from point of entry by ambulance for cough with sputum, shortness of breath, runny nose and chest discomfort.

His nasopharyngeal swab taken on 9 December tested positive for enterovirus/ rhinovirus and negative for influenza virus. His nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) taken on 19 December was positive for avian influenza A(H7N9) virus RNA. He was reported to be in severe condition at the time of report. His condition further deteriorated to critical on 21 December. He had visited a wet market in Dongguan and bought a dressed chicken. DOH´s investigation is ongoing, and DOH is communicating with the Guangdong health authority.

To date, a total of 808 laboratory-confirmed human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported through IHR notification since early 2013.