15 April 2013 (11:26 UTC-07 Tango)/04 Jumada t-Tania 1434/26 Farvardin 1391/06 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
It’s now becoming routine that every 24 hours you can expect more human infections and deaths from H7N9.
Jiangsu Province reports another death, as well as a new infection.
Anhui and Zhejiang provinces reporting one new case each.
15 April 2013 (21:27 UTC-07 Tango 14 April 2013)/04 Jumada t-Tania 1434/26 Farvardin 1391/06 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention say they’ve identified a human carrier of the deadly H7N9 virus; a four years old boy!
The boy tested positive for the virus, but is not sick. The boy is the neighbor of the seven years old girl that became Beijing’s first human case of H7N9. She is sick in the hospital. The boy is now under quarantine in a hospital.
The four years old carrier was discovered after health officials tested 24 people who were in contact with the girl. Apparently he was the only one who tested positive for the virus. The families all raise poultry.
Up until this discovery Chinese health officials said they had no proof of human to human transmission.
14 April 2013 (09:53 UTC-07 Tango)/03 Jumada t-Tania 1434/25 Farvardin 1391/05 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
Overnight the number of infected humans has jumped from 51 to 60! 13 people now dead.
Shanghai reported three new cases, as well as two deaths.
Jiangsu Province reported two new cases.
Zhejiang Province reports four more people infected, all in critical condition.
14 April 2013 (22:48 UTC-07 Tango 13 April 2013)/03 Jumada t-Tania 1434/25 Farvardin 1391/05 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
Henan Province joins Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, as well as Shanghai and Beijing cities, in reporting H7N9 infections in humans.
Henan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 34 years old cook and a 65 years old farmer hospitalized with the new flu. The cook is in critical condition.
Since the end of March at least 51 human cases, 11 of them died.
13 April 2013 (12:06 UTC-07 Tango)/02 Jumada t-Tania 1434/24 Farvardin 1391/04 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
Reports from Shanghai of possible human to human H7N9 infections. As well as new cases in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces.
In Shanghai a man whose wife died from H7N9, is now confirmed sick with the same virus. At this point medical officials say they have no proof of human to human transmission.
Chinese media says there are now 49 cases.
13 April 2013 (22:45 UTC-07 Tango 12 April 2013)/02 Jumada t-Tania 1434/24 Farvardin 1392/04 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
“It is possible that these severely ill patients represent the tip of the iceberg and that there are many more as-yet-undetected mild and asymptomatic infections.”-Human Infection with a Novel Avian-Origin Influenza A (H7N9) Virus, NEJM
A seven years old girl is now hospitalized in Beijing, with H7N9. 44 cases, 11 deaths since the end of March.
The girl developed symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat and headache on the morning 11 April. By the evening she had been unsuccessfully treated with Tamiflu, her condition worsened and she was hospitalized. Doctors say oxygen treatment reduced the severity of her symptoms. Test confirmed H7N9. Her family is involved in the poultry business.
This follows warnings from Chinese and international health officials, that H7N9 is much worse than first thought.
In a report published in NEJM researchers warned the H7N9 virus is more virulent than first thought, and they warned of global spread: “…the pandemic potential of these novel avian-origin viruses should not be underestimated……..We are concerned by the sudden emergence of these infections and the potential threat to the human population. An understanding of the source and mode of transmission of these infections, further surveillance, and appropriate counter measures are urgently required.”
The report confirmed claims made earlier in the week by health official in Thailand, it’s new to continental Asia, and it’s never infected humans before: “The transmission of H7 viruses to mammals has been reported only rarely in Asia. Human infections with N9 subtype viruses had not been documented anywhere in the world.”
Of interest is the first three people to die were treated with lots of anti-biotics, which is odd because anti-biotics don’t work on viruses, and “Antiviral therapy was initiated 6 to 7 days after the onset of illness.”
12 April 2013 (12:08 UTC-07 Tango)/01 Jumada t-Tania 1434/23 Farvardin 1391/03 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau is warning residence that the H7N9 virus is being spread by humans. They are warning that they have reason to believe people traveling from China’s east coast are carriers.
The Beijing Ditan Hospital and Beijing Youan Hospital are now designated H7N9 treatment centers.
Beijing health officials are also warning that this is the time of year when many birds migrate south, which could spread H7N9, if the birds are infected.
12 April 2013 (12:00 UTC-07 Tango)/01 Jumada t-Tania 1434/23 Farvardin 1391/03 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
In their daily updates, Shanghai health officials say another person has died and two more people are sick. Zhejiang Province reports three new cases as well.
Medical reports indicate the common symptom in the early stages of infection is fever. Then symptoms vary from chills to coughing to muscle aches. The final stage is pneumonia. The average time is five to ten days from contact to the pneumonia stage.
So far no body related to the infected people have tested positive for H7N9, although several have shown symptoms then recovered on their own. A Japanese researcher said H7N9 is not detectable until the pneumonia stage. Yesterday, Chinese health officials distributed 160000 new test kits in hopes of detecting the virus early on.
With the new testing kits you can expect reported cases to increase.
12 April 2013 (20:58 UTC-07 Tango 11 April 2013)/01 Jumada t-Tania 1434/23 Farvardin 1391/03 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
Health officials have released details regarding the first three people to die from H7N9.
Fudan University’s Huashan Hospital report: The first person to die was a 52 years old woman, came down with symptoms on 27 March, sought medical help on 28 March. Doctors put her on anti-biotics and sent her home. A few days later she returned still sick. Doctors then put her on intravenous anti-biotics for the next three days. She got worse, developing pneumonia. By this time doctors finally diagnosed her with a flu virus. They started anti-viral treatment, but amazingly, continued the anti-biotics! She died 03 April
My comments: Not only do anti-biotics not work on viruses, they destroy your own body’s immune system. I wouldn’t be surprised if her death was actually the result of the treatment with anti-biotics.
The woman’s husband was also sick, but tests for infections came up negative, so he was not reported has having H7N9. He recovered.
Comments from Fudan University’s Huashan Hospital doctor Yu-Mei Wen, and doctor Hans-Dieter Klenk from the University of Marburg in Germany: The next two people to die were men, one 87 years old, the other 27. Realize the H7N9 is being called a bird flu, and tens of thousands of poultry are being exterminated out of fear. These two men had never been around poultry. They had been in contact with pigs, but so far all testing on pigs show negative for H7N9. From the time the men started showing symptoms (chills, fever) to the time of severe pneumonia was five to ten days.
My comments: The details of the first three H7N9 human deaths calls into question the idea that this bird flu (which according to health officials in Thailand is new to continental Asia) ‘jumped’ from birds to humans. Early on Japanese researchers said this new H7N9 is not detectable until the onset of pneumonia. Also, testing done on thousands of poultry, and even wild birds in China, since the outbreak began, has only revealed a handful of infected birds. Bird flu is known to be able to ‘jump’ to pigs more easily than to humans, yet testing done on the thousands of dead pigs that were found in the Huangpu River showed none were infected with H7N9. Note that the first three human deaths were all in Shanghai, it looks like the famous Chinese city is ground zero for this new virus.
11 April 2013 (09:17 UTC-07 Tango)/30 Jumada l-Ula 1434/22 Farvardin 1391/02 Bing-Chen (3rd month) 4711
China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission reports five new cases and one death in the H7N9 outbreak. Two new cases in Jiangsu Province, and three new cases, including the death, in Shanghai.
The 74 years old man that died was confirmed to have H7N9 Wednesday night, but died today. As with other H7N9 cases, he had been admitted to a hospital with pneumonia.
Chinese health officials say, so far none of the relatives of the sick people are showing any signs H7N9 infection.
Yum Brands, the company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, say sales at their Chinese KFC restaurants are crashing. They blame the H7N9 bird flu for scaring customers off from eating chicken. Sales at Chinese KFCs dropped 16% in March.
However, there is a problem with their blame game for crashing sales: The H7N9 bird flu scare didn’t start until the end of March. Yum Brands own records show their restaurants in China have been losing sales since January. In January and February they saw a 20% drop in sales.