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WHO: Person-to-person transmission of H3N8 bird flu extremely rare
By HANA BORDEY,GMA Integrated News The person-to-person transmission of H3N8 bird flu or human avian influenza is “extremely rare,” World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Emergency Director Babatunde Olowokure said Friday amid a recorded death in China.
“What we need to understand is that with these human cases of avian influenza, transmission from person to person is extremely rare. So therefore, the situation for humans in this regard is that we do remain vigilant,” Olowokure said in a press conference.
“We need to provide information regarding risks and most of that risk relates to sick, dying, or dead poultry and also their attendance at wet markets,” he added.
The WHO official said most human cases result from “individual cases having contact with dead or dying poultry [and] it does not come from the poultry industry.”
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Olowokure said the WHO is working together with different global organizations to ensure proper monitoring and response should there be more cases of human avian influenza.
Earlier this week, the WHO reported that a woman died from H3N8 bird flu in China. It is the first known human fatality from the avian influenza strain, according to an Agence France-Presse report.
H3N8 is known to have been circulating since 2002 after first emerging in North American waterfowl. It is known to infect horses, dogs, and seals.
It had not been detected in humans before two prior non-fatal cases emerged -- both also in China -- in April and May last year. — DVM, GMA Integrated News