Beijing: Shenzhen City in China's southernGuangdong Province has reported the second case of new human infection of H7N9 bird flu, which officials say has spread
from nearby Hong Kong. A girl aged six has tested positive for H7N9 and is hospitalised, the Guangdong Health and Family Planning Commission local government said in a statement.
Her case is described as "mild", state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Shenzhen reported its first H7N9 human case this winter on December 30. Both victims are residents of the city's Longhua New District which has now closed its live poultry markets. Most bird flu cases in humans come from exposure to infected poultry. Authorities in Guangdong and Hong Kong last week culled thousands of chickens after exports to Hong Kong were found to be infected with the virus.
Hong Kong raised its response level in hospitals to "serious" from "alert", after a 68-year-old woman was hospitalised on December 25 with H7N9, the region's first case since early 2014. The woman had arrived from Shenzhen two weeks before. Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a contagious disease of animal origin caused by viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. It can be fatal to humans.
Twenty seven people died last year in China due to H7N9 virus which affected the poultry industry badly. H7N9 was first reported in China in March 2013. The virus causes severe disease in humans, including acute and often lethal respiratory failure. The country has reported more than 200 human H7N9 cases. The disease was controlled after Chinese medical
specialists found a line of treatment.
