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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on November 14, 2013, 09:29:19 pm

Title: New 'H6N1' Bird Flu Reported in Taiwan
Post by: Buster's Uncle on November 14, 2013, 09:29:19 pm

New 'H6N1' Bird Flu Reported in Taiwan
LiveScience.com
By Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer  21 hours ago



A 20-year-old woman in Taiwan is the first person known to be infected with a strain of bird flu called H6N1, according to a new report of the case.

In May, the woman was hospitalized after she developed a high fever, cough and shortness of breath. Tests for common respiratory infections came up negative, but more detailed tests revealed she had H6N1, a flu virus that's common in birds, but has never before been seen in people.

The woman was treated with the anti-viral medication oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and made a full recovery.

So far, there's no evidence that H6N1 can spread between people. Of the 125 cases of flu reported in Taiwan since the woman became ill, none were caused by H6N1. The researchers also tracked down 36 people who came into contact with the woman, six of whom became sick around the time she did, but there was no indication they had H6N1.

It's not clear how the woman became infected with the virus. She worked in a deli, and did not have close contact with chickens or wild birds.

H6N1 is the latest bird flu virus to hop over to humans. Earlier this year, the first human infections with the H7N9 bird flu virus were reported in people in China. The H7N9 virus has since sickened 139 people, including 45 who died, according to the World Health Organization.

The new finding "shows the unpredictability of influenza viruses in human populations," the researchers, from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, wrote in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Further studies are needed to better understand the potential threat posed by H6N1, including research that investigates how the virus passes from animals to people, the researchers said. The findings also highlight the need for continued surveillance for new flu viruses, the researchers said.

An analysis of H6N1 genes showed that the strain found in the woman is similar to those seen in chickens. However, through a genetic mutation, the virus appears to have evolved the ability to bind to human cells in the upper respiratory tract.

Further genetic changes in the virus could increase its ability to pass from chickens to people, or from person to person, the researchers said.

Given how common H6N1 is in birds, and that several other types of bird flu viruses are known to cross over to people, it could have been anticipated that an H6 flu virus would eventually appear in people, said Dr. Richard Webby, a bird flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., who was not involved in the new study.

The big question is whether the genetic mutation in H6N1 means that it will now infect more people (causing an outbreak), or if the current report is just a sporadic case, Webby said.

"All of these viruses are, of course, a concern," Webby said. The new finding means that health officials will view H6N1 as slightly more risky, in terms of its pandemic potential, than they did in the past, Webby said.

The woman's case was reported by Taiwanese officials in June, but the new study is the first detailed report of the case.


http://news.yahoo.com/h6n1-bird-flu-reported-taiwan-001432943.html (http://news.yahoo.com/h6n1-bird-flu-reported-taiwan-001432943.html)

Title: First Case of New Bird Flu Identified in Human Patient
Post by: Buster's Uncle on November 15, 2013, 12:44:49 am

First Case of New Bird Flu Identified in Human Patient
Time.com
By Alice Park November 13, 2013 6:30 PM



The latest version is called H6N1, and represents the first time that this strain of bird flu has jumped from birds to people.

Flu researchers are especially wary of birds, from wild avian species like migrating geese to run-of-the-mill chickens at local poultry markets. They harbor a series of influenza strains that generally don’t make the birds sick, but could cause serious disease in people if if they jumped to human hosts.

In recent years, more bird flu viruses that had never infected people before have been finding new human hosts. Last spring, for example, scientists in China reported the first human cases of H7N9 infections. These viruses previously circulated among birds, but mutations helped  them to survive and sicken people as well.

Now, researchers in Taiwan say another avian flu strain, H6N1, may have made the jump as well. Reporting in the journal Lancet, scientists describe what they found when they analyzed a throat swab from a 20-year old woman who came to the hospital with shortness of breath and flu symptoms. When they sequenced the virus in her sample, they found it was very similar to H6N1 strains that have been found in chickens in the country since the 1970s, with one exception: this H6N1 had a mutation that gave it the ability to stick to human cells and gain entry, causing infection. Specifically, the mutation helped the virus to bind to cells in the human upper airway – a good place for viruses to attach after they are inhaled through the nasal passages.

The woman, a clerk in a deli who did not have direct contact with raw meats or poultry recovered. Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Taiwan identified and tested 36 of her close contacts, including her brother, mother, neighbors, work colleagues, and doctors who cared for her at the hospital. Only six had fever and respiratory symptoms similar to the woman’s; none showed signs of persistent infection with the virus.

While it’s too early to tell how virulent H6N1 may be in people, the fact that this bird flu mutated and gained the ability to infect people is concerning, say public health experts. The development suggests that some of the H6N1 strains circulating among poultry in Taiwan now have the ability to make people sick. That’s an unstable situation, since additional mutations could make the virus either more dangerous to people or make it more innocuous; it’s all a matter of chance. “As these viruses continue to evolve and accumulate changes, they increase the potential risk of human infection,” Dr. Ho-Sheng Wu, from the CDC In Taiwan and one of the study’s co-authors.

Coupled with the shift of H7N9 from birds to people last flu season, this latest case suggests that it makes sense to increase surveillance of the influenza strains circulating among birds for clues about the next potential viral flu threat.


http://news.yahoo.com/first-case-bird-flu-identified-human-patient-233003823.html (http://news.yahoo.com/first-case-bird-flu-identified-human-patient-233003823.html)