bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Zhuang Pinghui

Bloomberg

The H7N9 bird flu virus claimed another life yesterday and five more people were confirmed to have contracted it.
That brings to 38 the number of cases confirmed by mainland authorities since the first on March 31, with 10 dead.
A four-year-old boy in Shanghai has been discharged after making a full recovery.
A 74-year-old retired man in Shanghai became the tenth death. He was diagnosed with pneumonia on Tuesday, confirmed to be infected with H7N9 on Wednesday and died yesterday, Shanghai authorities said.
An 83-year-old woman and 68-year-old man were also being treated and in stable condition.
Video: Hong Kong tests China poultry for flu

In Jiangsu, a 31-year-old Yangzhou cook and a 56-year-old Suzhou teacher were in critical condition, provincial health officials said.
  	When you look at the raw data and compare the three strains of the virus, there's a signal from one strain that is less sensitive to both of the neuraminidase inhibitors (Tamiflu and Relenza)
Scientists and public health experts have been racing against the clock to study the virus, which has jumped for the first time from birds to humans.
A gene mutation known to help resist Tamiflu, one of the drugs recommended for treating H7N9, was found in the first of three H7N9 specimens from a Shanghai patient. The mutation, known as R292K, causes high-level resistance to the Roche-made drug and reduced sensitivity to a related drug from GlaxoSmithKline, Relenza, also recommended for treating H7N9 patients, according to information posted on the website of the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data.
Other H7N9 specimens from a patient in Shanghai and one in Anhui province do not show the mutation.
The finding warranted further analysis, a director at Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, Masato Tashiro, said.
However, the World Health Organisation issued a statement saying preliminary tests had so far found no evidence that the H7N9 bird flu strain had developed resistance to Tamiflu and Relenza.
Tashiro said: "When you look at the raw data and compare the three strains of the virus, there's a signal from one strain that is less sensitive to both of the neuraminidase inhibitors (Tamiflu and Relenza)." It was "not a strong signal, but there's a possibility" of resistance.
 
  	View H7N9 map in a larger map
Click on each balloon for more information on individual patients infected with the avian flu virus: blue, patients infected with the H7N9 virus under treatment; red, those infected with the H7N9 who have died; and pink, those with H1N1 avian flu virus.
 


Bird flu spread in China closely linked to poultry trade, study says

Hong Kong to remain vigilant over bird flu threat, health chief Sophia Chan vows, as Japanese research confirms H7N9 virus can be transmitted via respiratory droplets

Simulated global pandemic leaves 150 million dead. A real one could be much worse

Virus test developed by 15 Hong Kong university students could mean difference between life and death in an epidemic

H7N9 virus

Flu toll rises amid concerns H7N9 has resistance to Tamiflu, Relenza

Production of drugs recommended for the treatment of influenza has been stepped up. Photo: Reuters

News

China

The H7N9 bird flu virus claimed another life yesterday and five more people were confirmed to have contracted it. That brings to 38 the number of cases confirmed by mainland authorities since the first on March 31, with 10 dead.
