Not now, bird flu! China confirms first human case of H3N8 strain

China has recorded the world’s first human case of the H3N8 strain of bird flu.

A four-year-old boy from Zhumadian, Henan Province, has tested positive for the bird flu strain, local health chiefs have confirmed.

The child – who had a fever – had been in contact with chickens and crows raised in his home.

The virus is usually spread by touching infected birds and their droppings, or when preparing infected poultry for cooking.

None of the boy’s close contacts were infected with the strain.

China’s National Health Commission has yet to provide an update on the boy. Bird flu is thought to kill up to half of the people it infects, the NHC added.

Early investigations show the strain lacks the ability to pass from human to human, prompting Chinese doctors to say the risk of a large-scale outbreak is low.

The H3N8 variant – one of many types of bird flu – is common in horses and dogs and has even been found in seals. However, no human cases had been reported so far.

The NHC has advised people to avoid direct contact with live poultry and to seek medical attention if they develop telltale flu symptoms.

Bird flu can cause fever, muscle aches, headaches and coughing, which is similar to the traditional form of the virus.

Sufferers may also experience diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, chest pain, and bleeding from the nose and gums, as well as conjunctivitis.

Infected people are either cared for at home or in hospital, and isolated. Antivirals can reduce the severity of the disease.

Nicola Lewis, an influenza expert at the UK’s Royal Veterinary College, said genome analysis of the case – identified just three hours’ drive north of Wuhan – showed it was a restocked.

This means that it contains a mixture of genes from viruses that have already been detected in poultry and wild birds.

Many strains of bird flu are present in China. It has a huge population of farmed and wild birds, which encourages avian viruses to mix and mutate.

Most of them do not infect humans. Only four strains have caused concern in recent years after infecting humans – H5N1, H7N9, H5N6 and H5N8.

Bird flu mortality rates in humans have been estimated at 50%.

But transmission to humans is so rare. Fewer than 500 bird flu deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization since 1997.

Britain saw its biggest bird flu outbreak last month, after H5N1 cases started to climb in November after it was first spotted in North Yorkshire.

Alan Gosling, a 79-year-old grandfather living in Devon, became the UK’s first human case of H5N1 after catching it at home from ducks.

He isolated himself at home for three weeks at the start of the year until he finally tested negative.

Bird flu measures introduced in a bid to control the outbreak meant Britons could no longer buy free-range eggs due to the length of time hens were kept indoors.

By the end of March, 863 human cases of H5N1 had been confirmed in 18 countries and 455 were fatal.

The World Health Organization had also recorded 75 confirmed cases and 32 deaths from H5N6.