The woman who was the third person that
contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu, is still critically ill in a
hospital in Nanjing, in east China's Jiangsu province. She got the flu
virus in Chuzou, in east China's Anhui province. Efforts are ongoing in
order to figure out where the avian flu virus comes from, and if it can
spread among humans.
Ms. Han, who has been in intensive care for over one week, is still in life-threatening danger. The 35-year-old woman was sent to a
hospital on March 20th, after showing signs of a fever in the city of
Chuzhou, in Anhui Province.
Wei Zhengxiang, vice director of Chuzhou
Disease Prevention & Control Ctr., said:"She had a very high
heartbeat. Two shadows were found in her lungs. She later showed
symptoms of heart failure."
Emergency life-saving efforts did not help improve her condition, and she quickly developed acute pneumonia on the same day.
Xu Xuewei, vice director of Chuzhou
Disease Prevention & Control Ctr., said:"A conclusion was made that
it was a viral pneumonia, but we were not sure which kind it was. We
called experts from the disease control and prevention center for
assistance."
Han was later transferred to a larger
hospital in Nanjing for further examination, on March 30th. Joint
investigations by the hospital and experts from China's health authority
confirmed that the woman had contracted H7N9.
Xu Xuewei said:"The patient bought a
chicken at a poultry market one week before falling ill. The chicken was
killed by the vendor, and later was processed by the patient."
Xu said so far, there is not sufficient
evidence to prove that the infection is related to the chicken in the
market. Chuzhou authorities are still tracking people who had contact
with the victim, while continuing to monitor local poultry markets. No
additional infections in Anhui have been reported to date.
The total number of human infections of the H7N9 bird flu in China rose
to seven, as four more cases were reported in east China's Jiangsu
Province on Tuesday (2 April, 2013).
Source China.org.cn