In continuing coverage, several national sources report the death count for China's H7N9 outbreak has reached 10, with 38 confirmed infections. Two articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine also discuss the symptoms of the virus and the difficulty of producing and distributing a vaccine for the strain. As in the past, researchers reiterate there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
USA Today (4/12, Weise, 1.71M) reports that US health agencies are mobilizing to combat a "new, highly virulent flu strain" that has infected 38 people in China and killed 10. USA Today notes, "This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention activated its Emergency Operations Center at Level II, the second-highest level of alert. The last time that happened was during the Fukushima nuclear disaster after the Japanese tsunami in 2011." USA Today adds, "There have been no cases of the new flu reported outside China."
The New York Times (4/12, A6, Grady, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports, "A report on three of the first patients in China to contract a new strain of bird flu paints a grim portrait of severe pneumonia, septic shock and other complications that damaged the brain, kidney and other organs. All three died." The report, "by a team of researchers from China, was published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine along with a commentary from American health officials, who said the disease 'raises many urgent questions and global public health concerns.'"
The Los Angeles Times (4/11, Brown, 692K) reports the researchers wrote the "similarities between avian flus and the new virus may support the possibility that people catch the new H7N9 from birds and not from other people." However, the team also "found changes in the H7N9 viral genes that have made past flus more virulent in people." They noted, "Severe avian influenza A [H7N9] infections, characterized by high fever and severe respiratory symptoms, may pose a serious human health risk."
The Wall Street Journal (4/12, McKay, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports the scientists for the CDC wrote in a second article published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday that it would be difficult to create a vaccine for the H7N9 flu strain. The scientists note in the report that they are unsure if the new flu is localized to a few cases or is the case of a pandemic. They note it would also take months to produce and distribute the vaccine. In the meantime, they seek increased surveillance on people on animals in China to see if the virus is capable of human-to-human transmission.
Reuters (4/12, Steenhuysen) reports government researchers are currently started testing a "seed" strain of the virus in hopes of getting a jump on making a flu vaccine. This faster approach is the result of the Federal government collaborating with vaccine maker Novartis and unit of the J. Craig Venter Institute, which took a part of the virus' genetic code to develop a formula to create the virus from scratch. It is estimate that using this method reduced two months off the process of making the vaccine.
Bloomberg News (4/12, Gale) notes the description of the fatal illness for a 52-year-old Shanghai woman was detailed by doctors at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections. "Her illness, the first H7N9 avian influenza case to be described in a medical journal, highlights the seriousness of the new strain, which has sickened at least 38 people in eastern China, killing 10, in the past two months." The report noted the woman experienced an "early high fever" that reached "as high as 40.6 degrees Celsius (105.1 Fahrenheit)." Following several days, "she developed a cough, tightness in her chest and difficulty breathing. A chest X-ray showed severe pneumonitis and she was given antibiotics. Her condition worsened and a week after her symptoms began, she was hospitalized for acute respiratory distress syndrome and died the next day."
Forbes (4/11, Flannary, 928K) reports, "In Thailand yesterday, an official from the Food and Agriculture Organization at the United Nations expressed concern about the possible spread of the disease beyond China's borders, the Shanghai Daily also reported." The organization has also initiated "surveillance programs in Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam."
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