Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has revealed that “there is no evidence that human patients infected with influenza A(H7N9), a low pathogenic virus in poultry, can transmit the virus to animals, including birds.”
The organisation, in making the declaration, made reference to the first human case of A (H7N9) outside China, which was recently detected in Malaysia.
It said the patient, originally from Guangdong Province in China, where she is thought to have contracted the infection, was visiting Malaysia as a tourist and has now been hospitalised there. Guangdong is one of the Chinese provinces most affected by the A (H7N9) virus in 2014.
FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Juan Lubroth, said: “This case does not come as a surprise and should not be a cause for increased concern, but should remind the world to remain vigilant. Humans that become ill with influenza A (H7N9) constitute no threat to poultry populations.
“In fact, we have no evidence that affected people could transmit the virus to other species, including birds. The highest risk of virus introduction is uncontrolled live poultry trade between affected and unaffected areas.”
People, on the other hand, could become infected following close contact with infected live poultry, mostly in live bird markets or when slaughtering birds at home.
WHO risk assessments showed that should infected people from affected areas travel internationally, community level spread is unlikely since the virus does not had the ability to transmit easily among humans.
Lubroth added: “Such ‘imported’ human cases, like the one reported in Malaysia last week, have been found in the past in previously unaffected areas of China, like Guizhou, Taiwan Province of China and Hong Kong SAR, and we will likely continue to see this in the not too distant future again. To date the virus has not been found in poultry populations outside affected areas in China.”
According to him, with the strong support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the FAO is assisting a number of member countries to prepare for a potential introduction of A (H7N9) into their poultry populations.
