H7N9 Flu Outbreak Largest Yet But risk of sustained transmission among people remains low: WHO

The current wave of H7N9 avian flu in China is the largest yet and accounts for more than a third of the human cases recorded since the strain was identified in 2013, according to an official of the World Health Organization. But most other characteristics of the current outbreak, now standing at 460 cases, are similar to earlier waves, including the median age of patients, their history of exposure to poultry, and the risk of dying from the disease, said Wenqing Zhang, MD, head of the agency's global influenza program. Risk of sustained transmission between people remains low, she told reporters in a telephone briefing, but "constant change is the nature of all influenza viruses (making) influenza a persistent and significant threat to public health." http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/URItheFlu/63494?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-03-02&eun=g721819d0r&pos=0