Taipei CDC Reports Two New Cases of Human Infection with H7N9 Virus

The Taipei Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reported two additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9). These are the third and fourth cases with infection of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus reported from Taipei CDC.
 
Details of the cases are as follows:

The patient reported on April 22, 2014 is a 44-year-old woman from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, who traveled to Taipei with a 33-member tourist group. She was ill on April 12 and had been to a local hospital in Nanjing. The patient had an underlying medical condition. Despite general weakness and poor appetite, she traveled to Taipei with the group on April 17. She was admitted to hospital in Taipei on April 19 and subsequently transferred to a medical center on April 20. She was laboratory confirmed on 22 April. Within one week before disease onset she had purchased a slaughtered chicken at a wet market and cooked in mainland China.

Taipei CDC obtained the list of the other 32 tour members on April 22; the tour group returned to its origin on April 24. As of April 23, one member developed fever.

The patient reported on April 25, 2014 is a previously healthy 39-year-old man who frequently travels across the Taiwan Strait. He became ill on April 19 and was hospitalized on April 23. He was laboratory confirmed on April 25. The patient visited Beijing and Jiangsu from March 31 to April 19. He denied exposure to poultry or wet markets while in Mainland China.

The following measures have been taken by Taipei CDC: Epidemiological investigation, tracing of close contacts, medical observation; strengthen surveillance of pneumonia of unknown causes and routine influenza sentinel surveillance, as well flu and avian flu virology surveillance; the list of tour members relating to the case reported on April 22 has been sent to the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China for further investigation. The travel history of the case reported on April 25 has been sent to the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China for further investigation.

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)