Caution urged after China reports combined H3N2, H10N5 bird flu death

Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday said it would maintain its travel alert for two provinces in China due to the latter reporting the death of a woman from a combined H3N2, H10N5 bird flu infection after a cross-species transmission.

In a press release, the CDC said that according to a statement from China's Ministry of Health on Tuesday, a woman in her 60s from Anhui Province with underlying health conditions developed flu-like symptoms on Nov. 30.

After seeking medical attention on Dec. 2, she was transferred to a hospital in neighboring Zhejiang Province on Dec. 7 and died on Dec. 16.

Genome sequencing analyses of the virus on Jan. 22 and Jan. 26 found the woman had been infected with combined strains of the seasonal influenza H3N2 and the avian-origin flu H10N5, which cannot effectively infect humans, Chinese authorities said.

The Chinese authorities said the case was an "incidental" cross-species transmission from poultry to humans and that there was a low risk of the virus infecting people. No human-to-human transmissions had occurred, they added.

On Thursday, CDC Deputy Director General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said the case in China was notable both for being the first case of H10N5 in humans and for being a rare fatal infection involving a combination of seasonal flu and a novel influenza A virus.

In response to the case, the CDC said it would maintain its current Level 2 travel alerts for Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, and continue to conduct influenza screening on some travelers arriving at Taiwan's four international airports.

The CDC currently has Level 2 travel alerts -- which advise travelers to "practice enhanced precautions" -- in place for 13 Chinese provinces over reports of novel influenza A virus infections, the agency said.

People traveling in these regions should avoid crowded areas and contact with poultry, and should immediately seek medical attention and report their travel history if they develop flu-related symptoms, the CDC said.