The outbreak of a new type of bird flu in China poses a “serious threat” to human health, but it is still too soon to predict how far it will spread, experts have said.

Of the 126 people known to be infected so far, 24 have died, with many more still severely ill in hospital.

The H7N9 virus has not, however, yet proved able to spread between people – which limits its global threat.

The threat should be “treated calmly, but seriously”, researchers advised.

There is concern over both the pace and severity of the outbreak.

There has been a relatively high number of known infections since the first case was detected in April.

Prof John McCauley, the director of a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centre in the UK, said: “It is unusual to get these numbers.”

Of those infected, a fifth died, a fifth recovered and the rest are still ill. The infection results in severe pneumonia and even blood poisoning and organ failure.

“The WHO considers this a serious threat,” said Prof McCauley, “but we don’t know at this stage whether this is going to spread from human to human.”

So far nearly all cases have been traced back to contact with poultry. If the virus adapts to spread readily between people it will pose a much greater threat and scientists warn that the virus is mutating rapidly.

The last major bird flu, H5N1, made the jump to people in 1997 and killed more than three hundred people – yet, it is still unable to spread between humans.

Predicting which viruses will become deadly on a global scale is impossible.

Prof Jeremy Farrar, a leading expert in bird flu and the director-elect of one of the world’s largest research charities, the Wellcome Trust, said N7N9 needed to be taken seriously.

“Whenever an influenza virus jumps across from its normal host in bird populations into humans it is a cause for concern,” he said.

Often in pandemics older people have some immunity as they have lived longer and have been exposed to similar viruses before.

However, in this outbreak the ages of those infected ranges from two to 81.

Prof Farrar said: “That suggests there truly is no immunity across all ages, and that as humans we have not seen this virus before.

“The response has been calm and measured, but it cannot be taken lightly.”

New threat

A study published in the Lancet medical journal suggests that H7N9 influenza is a mix of at least four viruses with origins in ducks and chickens.

Unlike the previous H5N1 outbreak, it is not deadly to poultry. It means it is much harder to track the spread of the virus.

A highly controversial piece of research in 2012 showed that it would take five mutations to transform H5N1 into a pandemic.

Prof Wendy Barclay, an influenza researcher at Imperial College London, said: “H7N9 might be one step closer to being able to become a pandemic than H5 is in nature at the moment.”

It already has one of the five mutations when it is infecting birds.

“In people who have caught the H7 virus so far we can see [another] one of the important mutations occurring in those people in a matter of days,” she said.

By James Gallagher
BBC News

Taiwan is stepping up prevention measures against bird flu

The man is in a serious condition in hospital days after returning from the Chinese city of Suzhou, officials say.

China has confirmed 108 cases of H7N9 since it was initially reported in March, with at least 22 people dead.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says this strain appears to spread more easily from birds to humans.

The man in Taiwan was brought to hospital three days after he arrived from Suzhou via Shanghai, officials say.

He was not in contact with poultry, nor had he eaten undercooked birds while in Suzhou, Taiwanese Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta told local media.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has ordered the health department to step up prevention measures, says the country’s Central News Agency.

‘Unusually dangerous’

Experts are still trying to understand the H7N9 virus, and it has not yet been determined whether it could be transferred between humans.

“This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far,” WHO flu expert Dr Keiji Fukuda said at a news conference in Beijing.

“When we look at influenza viruses this is an unusually dangerous virus.”

He added that the WHO team was just beginning its investigation. But he said that based on the evidence, “this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than H5N1″, a strain which spread in 2003.

Dr Fukuda led a team from the WHO on a one-week China visit to study H7N9, along with Chinese officials from Beijing and Shanghai.

The WHO believes that poultry is still the likely source of the H7N9 outbreak in China.

BBC News

The FDA said the condoms were also not adequately lubricated

“There are holes in them and… the condoms burst easily,” a Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) spokesman told the BBC.

The condoms were being distributed free as part of an HIV/Aids prevention campaign by the Ghana Health Service.

About 200 million of the faulty condoms are believed to have been imported into the country.

The BBC’s Sammy Darko in the capital, Accra, says the condom packaging is silvery white with a red Aids ribbon incorporated into the design and the words “Be Safe” also in red.

The FDA has issued an alert about their safety.

About 230,000 people in Ghana are living with HIV

All imported condoms are supposed to be tested by the FDA before distribution, he said.

“Somehow there was a lapse; the batches of the condoms were not submitted as duly required for the appropriate testing to be conducted,” he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

Anybody using them could be “exposed to sexually transmitted infections or be saddled with unwanted pregnancies”, Mr Amedzro said.

“You may not be able to see the holes with your naked eye but when you look at it under the microscope you can see holes,” he said.

They were also not adequately lubricated, the FDA said.

Our reporter says the health service took delivery of the condoms in February this year, but they arrived in the country in the last quarter of 2012.

“Since the alert went out, a number of individuals and organisations have already reported to us that they have stocks, which we are already retrieving,” Mr Amedzro said.

A publicity campaign was underway to ensure that all the other unsafe condoms were found, he added.

According to UN figures, an estimated 230,000 people in Ghana, which has a population of 25 million, are living with HIV.

BBC News