China reports 1st human case of H10N3 bird flu strain

China confirmed on Tuesday its first human case of the H10N3 bird flu strain, after a 41-year-old man in the eastern province of Jiangsu was diagnosed with an infection.

Health officials said the strain is not as severe as others and the risk of a large-scale outbreak is low, Reuters reports. The man went to the hospital after coming down with a fever and other symptoms, and on May 28 it was confirmed that he had the H10N3 virus. Health officials did not say how the man became infected, but did share that he is in stable condition and about to leave the hospital.

People close to the man have been under medical observation, and none have come down with the virus. H10N3 is "not a very common virus," Filip Claes of the Food and Agriculture Organization's Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases told Reuters. From 1978 to 2018, roughly 160 isolates of the virus were reported, primarily in waterfowl and wild birds in Asia and some areas of North America. There have been no detected cases in chickens.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up