Bird flu virus more dangerous than H7N9 discovered
Scientific research results published in the prestigious Nature magazine (UK) on August 21, 2013 said that a group of scientists from Hong Kong (China) discovered a new type of virus H7N7 in chickens in Eastern China.
Thus, H7N7 is currently the latest variant of the H7 strain of avian influenza virus after H7N9.
After testing samples from 150 chickens, experts found 36 cases positive for the H7N7 virus and many samples positive for both the H7N7 and H7N9 viruses. Scientists then implanted the newly discovered H7N7 virus into ferrets, an animal that has characteristics relatively similar to humans. The results showed that the ferrets developed severe pneumonia.
Experiments have shown that H7N7 is capable of infecting mammals, raising concerns that H7 subtype viruses could pose a more dangerous threat than the current H7N9 outbreak.
The continued spread of H7 viruses in poultry could lead to more pathogenic and human-infecting variants.
Research author Yi Guan of the University of Hong Kong said that if H7N7 continues to spread in poultry, human infections are certainly possible.
The team also warned that the new H7 viruses could pose a greater threat than the current H7N9 bird flu outbreak. H7N7 spreads easily among poultry, causing one human death and more than 80 wild infections in the Netherlands in 2003. But until this new study, scientists could not confirm this.
Based on animal experiments, researchers believe that the H7N7 virus may cause more severe infections than the older variant H7N9.
Experts warn that this is a very worrying discovery for humans because almost the entire world's population has no antibodies against the H7 strain of bird flu viruses. Therefore, if H7N7 becomes a pandemic, this virus will claim the lives of many people.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 135 confirmed cases of H7N9 avian influenza, of which 44 have died, most of the cases are in China, one case is in Taiwan (China).
On August 6, Chinese scientists reported the first case of the H7N9 virus being transmitted directly from person to person, but reassured people that this dangerous virus cannot yet be easily transmitted from person to person by the mechanism of spread.
According to Vietnam+ - LY