Pandemic Potential Increases As H7N9 Spreads To Hong Kong At The Start Of Regular Flu Season

An Indonesian resident in Hong Kong has become the islands first H7N9 bird flu victim. The woman who is 36 years old is in isolation and is in a critical condition. She recently traveled to Shenzhen on the mainland and had contact with live poultry. The World Health Organization has said that although: “There is no evidence of sustained human to human transmission, H7N9 is an unusually dangerous virus.” Hong Kongs food and health secretary Dr KO Wing-man said the woman: “has a history of travelling to Shenzhen, buying a chicken, slaughtering and eating the chicken”. “She is now in critical condition at Queen Mary Hospital, four people in close contact with her were showing signs of flu-like symptoms.” H7N9 was first identified in April and has sickened 139 people since then, killing 45 of them. Scientists fear that the virus will have much more effect this winter when influenza outbreaks are far more common. As well as posing a threat in its own right it’s the ability of flu viruses to mix and mutate is causing doctors to worry about the pandemic potential of H7N9. If a person with regular seasonal flu comes into contact with someone who has H7N9 the potential for genetic mixing and mutation is high. Seasonal flu is highly contagious, and that could well give H7N9 the chance to spread rapidly through the population. On average the world has a pandemic every 30-40 years.



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