H7N4 TYPE BIRD FLU First Ever Human Case in China

Dr DEEPAN P SHAH (MD)

H7N4 Infection first ever human case reported in  Changzhou of Jiangsu Province of China

A 68 year old women is the first ever reported human to be infected with H7N4 virus, she showed first symptom of flu on 25th December christmas day of 2017 and was admited in hospital on 1st January 2018 was discharged on 22nd January 2018 and the case was confirmed of H7N4 viris infection and reported to health authorities on 14th February Valentines Day  of 2018. She was reportedly in contact with live poultry before she started developing symptoms.

There was a minor reported epidemic in birds and poultry back in 1997 but there was never a record of this H7N4 infecting any human till date.

H7N4 virus is subtype of Influenza A virus of orthomyxoviridae family or in laymen terms called bird flu virus family. Influenza A virus are negative – sense, single stranded,  segmented RNA Viruses. These virus occasionally causes epidemics in wild aquatic birds and then when they come in contact with domestic birds and poultry they infect them and eventualy the infection may pass to humans. Its very rare for these virus to reach humans but whenever they infect humans the consequences are severe and in epidemic and pandemic scale.

Following are known subtypes of Influenza A virus that can infect humans and are listed as per number of known pandemic human deaths.

  • H1N1- Spanish Flu(1918) or Swine Flu recently
  • H2N2- Asian Flu(1950)
  • H3N2 – Hong kong Flu(1968) and 2018
  • H5N1- Avian Flu-Global influenza pandemic (mid-2000) – with fatality rate of 50% it becomes the most falat virus of all know Influenza virus that infect humans it also causes diarrhoea.
  • H1N2- currently endemic in pigs and humans.
  • H7N7
  • H7N2
  • H9N2
  • H7N3
  • H5N2
  • H10N7
  • H7N4 – bird flu – one case reported in China in 2018 which completely recovered

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