A woman infected by the H3N8 bird flu in China has been recorded as the first person to die from the virus.
China recently informed the World Health Organization (WHO) that a woman who was infected by the H3N8 bird flu died in March.
According to WHO, this is the third known human case overall and the first to involve the strain’s death.
It is said to have occurred in China in April and May of last year.
WHO says that the most recent viral case was a 56-year-old Guangdong lady from the province’s southeast.
The woman passed away on March 16 after being sick in February and being hospitalised with severe pneumonia.
“The patient had multiple underlying conditions.
“She had a history of exposure to live poultry before the onset of the disease, and a history of wild bird presence around her home,” says the UN health body.
Citing information from China’s National Health Commission, WHO explains that none of her close friends or family members have gotten sick.
None of them have also been recorded to have contracted the infection.
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The WHO suggests that she may have contracted the illness from a poultry market close to her home.
Furthermore, samples collected from the market were positive for the influenza A(H3) subtype.
