China reports death of woman from two combined strains of bird flu

China confirms death of woman due to infection with combined H3N2 and H10N5 strains of bird flu

A woman in China was detected to have both H3N2 and H10N5 strains of bird flu (Getty Images)

China has confirmed the death of a woman due to an infection with combined H3N2 and H10N5 strains of bird flu.

The 63-year-old woman from Anhui province in China died due to the combined infection, attributed to cross-species transmission, on 16 December.

According to reports, the woman had underlying health conditions.

Her symptoms included cough, sore throat, and fever that started on 30 November.

China’s National Disease Control and Prevention Administration stated that screenings of her close contacts yielded negative results, and no suspected cases were found.

Whole genome sequencing revealed that the H10N5 virus is of avian origin and lacks the ability to effectively infect humans.

“The outbreak is an episodic cross-species transmission from bird to humans,” the statement from the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration said.

The agency described the incident as an isolated case of bird-to-human transmission, emphasising the low risk of the virus infecting people and confirming that no human-to-human transmission has occurred.

The situation in China, with its large populations of farmed and wild birds, provides an environment conducive to the mixing and mutation of avian viruses.

Meanwhile, last year in April, a woman died from H3N8 bird flu in China in the first known human fatality from the avian influenza strain.

The World Health Organisation confirmed the death from the virus which had not been detected in humans before two non-fatal cases emerged – both also in China – in April and May 2022.

The woman who died was a 56-year-old from Guangdong province in southeast China.

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.

Additional reporting with agencies