On 13 May 2017, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (NHFPC) notified WHO of 23 additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in China.

Details of the case patients

Onset dates ranged from 11 April to 6 May 2017. Of these 23 case patients, ten were female. The median age was 58 years (range 31 to 83 years). The case patients were reported from Beijing (2), Fujian (1), Gansu (1), Hebei (5), Henan (3), Hubei (1), Jiangsu (2), Shaanxi (3), Sichuan (3), Tianjin (1), and Zhejiang (1).

At the time of notification, there were seven deaths, 15 case patients were diagnosed as having either pneumonia (5) or severe pneumonia (10), and one case was mild. Nineteen case patients were reported to have had exposure to poultry or live poultry market, one case patient was reported to have visited a patient with avian influenza A(H7N9) in the hospital, one case patient was reported to have had both exposure to live poultry and a contact with a confirmed case, and two were reported to have had no known poultry exposure.

Two clusters were reported:

A 63-year-old male from Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. He had symptom onset on 29 April 2017 and was admitted to hospital on 2 May. His symptoms were mild. He had visited a confirmed case in the hospital, a 62-year-old male from Shaanxi Province with symptom onset on 18 April 2017 and who was previously reported to WHO on 5 May.
A 37-year-old female from Chengde, Hebei Province. She had symptom onset on 2 May 2017 and was admitted to hospital on 3 May with pneumonia. She raised backyard poultry before her onset. She also had contact with a confirmed case, her mother, a 62-year-old with symptom onset on 16 April 2017 and who was previously reported to WHO on 5 May.
To date, a total of 1486 laboratory-confirmed human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported through IHR notification since early 2013.