China reports the first human case of H10N3 bird flu

A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu.

China’s National Health Commission (NHC) confirmed the diagnosis on Tuesday local time.

A statement from the NHC stated the man who is a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was hospitalised on April 28 after developing a fever and other symptoms.

The statement stated that the 41-year-old was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus but the NHC did not give details on how the man had been infected with H10N3.

H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus in poultry and the risk of it spreading on a large scale was very low, the NHC added.

Reports suggest the man was in a stable condition and is ready to be discharged from hospital.

Medical observation of his close contacts had not found any other cases.

Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and usually infect those working with poultry.

There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain which killed around 300 people during 2016 and 2017.

No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally, the NHC said.