First Case of H10N3 Bird Flu in Human Confirmed in China

China confirmed its first human case of the H10N3 bird flu strain on Tuesday, June 1. Reuters reported that the confirmation was made by Beijing's National Health Commission (NHC). However, details of how the individual was infected were not provided by the commission.

The individual who tested positive for H10N3 bird flu was a 41-year-old man from Jiangsu province, northwest of Shanghai, according to an Associated Press report. The said individual is now in stable condition and is ready to be discharged after being admitted to a hospital on April 28.

China's First Human H10N3 Bird Flu Case

The identified individual who had the bird flu strain was reported to be a resident of Zhenjiang in Jiangsu. The commission noted that the 41-year-old man was diagnosed with the H10N3 strain on May 28.

A contact tracing made by NHC showed that there are no other human cases of H10N3 elsewhere in China. Also, there are no other human cases of H10N3 reported globally.

Reuters reported that there are many other strains of bird flu in China, including strains that periodically infect people who usually work in poultries. However, there is no indication that the H10N3 bird flu strain can spread quickly on humans.

"This infection is an accidental cross-species transmission," the NHC said in a statement. The NHC further noted that there is low risk when it comes to large-scale transmission.

Dr. Waleed Javaid, director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York, told Health that if human-to-human transmission of H10N3 was a huge threat, it's likely that more cases would emerge.

Javaid noted that since no other cases of H10N3 have been reported among the patient in Zhenjiang's close contacts, experts still do not know if the H10N3 bird flu strain could spread via human-to-human transmission.

Javaid said the strain appears to have been circulating among birds for a while. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters that the organization echoed the NHC's statement, saying that there is no human-to-human transmission yet.

"As long as avian influenza viruses circulate in poultry, sporadic infection of avian influenza in humans is not surprising," the WHO said.

The WHO further noted that the infection is a reminder that the "threat of an influenza pandemic" persists. However, unlike COVID-19, global influenza surveillance systems for human cases of bird flu are available after the H5N1 strain emerged in Hongkong in the late 1990s.

What is H10N3 Bird FLU?

H10N3 is a form of avian influenza or bird flu that normally infects wild aquatic birds and domestic poultry. Health reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that this type of strain does not usually infect humans.

Apart from the H10N3 bird flu that infected its first human case in China, other avian influenza strains known to infect people include H5, H7, and H9.

Although details regarding specific symptoms for H10N3 bird flu have yet to be released, in general, symptoms of avian influenza include nausea, abdominal pain, severe respiratory illness, conjunctivitis, and influenza-like illness like fever, muscle aches, and sore throat.

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