A novel reassortant avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in China - what are the implications for Europe.

As of 10 April 2013, 33 human cases infected with a novel influenza A(H7N9) virus have been laboratory confirmed in Shanghai, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in China (Figure1). This case count came after on 31 March 2013, the Chinese authorities had announced the identification of a novel influenza A virus, an A(H7H9) virus, in three people in Shanghai and Anhui province. Two men in Shanghai, 87 and 27 years old, respectively, had become ill with influenzalike (ILI) symptoms and progressed to severe lower respiratory tract infections within a week in mid to late February, and died from acute respiratory distress syndrome hereafter [1,2]. The two had no epidemiological link and no known exposure to evidently sick animals. One of them was a pork butcher. The third case was a 35-year-old woman from Anhui province, adjacent to Shanghai, who also became ill with ILI with symptom onset on 9 March followed by severe respiratory disease and death.