China has reported two deaths from bird flu after confirming five new cases of H5N6 in which the World Health Organization called for 'urgent' action.
Experts have been concerned about the growing number of cases of bird flu among people in China and have warned that the strain may be more contagious to humans.
Five people - four men and one woman - in Sichuan Province, Zhejiang Province and the Guangxi Autonomous Region were infected with the bird flu strain in 2021, The Sun reported, citing Hong Kong's Ministry of Health.
Two of these people are now dead while the other three are currently in hospital fighting for their lives, officials said in a statement.
Four out of five of the infected people were exposed to live domestic poultry, the statement said. How the fifth was revealed is being investigated.
China has reported two deaths from bird flu after confirming five new cases of H5N6 in which the World Health Organization called for 'urgent' action. In the photo: Chicken cages in China (file photo)
The first person to die of H5N6 in December was a 75-year-old man from Luzhou, Sichuan. He was infected on December 1, driven to the hospital on December 4 and died on December 12.
The second victim was a 54-year-old man from Leshan, Sichuan, who was infected on December 8, hospitalized on December 16 and died on December 24.
A 51-year-old woman from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, fell ill on December 15 and was rushed to hospital three days later. In the statement, her condition was stated as critical.
Two other men from Liuzhou, Guangxi - a 53-year-old and a 28-year-old - were also infected and taken to hospital on December 23. The older man's condition is stated as serious, while the younger man's condition is also critical.
"While local monitoring, prevention and control measures are in place, the CHP plant will remain vigilant and work closely with the World Health Organization and relevant health authorities to monitor recent developments," the statement said.
A total of 63 cases of avian influenza A (H5N6) in humans have been reported in China since 2014. More than half of these were reported in the last six months.
Although the numbers are much lower than the hundreds who were infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill.
Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, the WHO said in October.
It said further investigation was 'urgent' needed to understand the risk and increase in human-to-human transmission.
‘The increase in human cases in China this year is worrying. It is a virus that causes high mortality, said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, last year.
In the photo: Workers vaccinate chickens (file photo). China vaccinates poultry against bird flu, but the vaccine used last year may only partially protect against new viruses, prevent major outbreaks, but allow the virus to continue to circulate
'It could be that this variant is a little more contagious (to humans) ... or there may be more of this virus in poultry at the moment and that's why more people are getting infected.'
China is the world's largest poultry producer and top producer of ducks, acting as a reservoir for influenza virus.
Backyard farms in China are common and many people still prefer to buy live chickens in markets.
China vaccinates poultry against bird flu, but the vaccine used last year may only partially protect against new viruses, prevent major outbreaks, but allow the virus to continue circulating.
There have been fewer than 1,000 cases globally since the virus emerged in the late 1990s. Human-to-human transmission is even rarer.
But because of how viruses evolve, experts are concerned that a bird flu strain could mutate into one that could easily spread between humans and cause a pandemic.
In November, UK health authorities issued a warning to people traveling to China about the risks posed by bird flu.