China records first human death from H3N8 bird flu: WHO

China witnessed its first fatal case of H3N8 bird flu in mid-March, according to a recent report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO). A 56-year-old in China is the first individual to have died after contracting what is “one of the most frequently found” subtypes of avian influenza that is predominantly found in birds.

The woman, whose name has not been revealed, is the first person to have died due to the virus and the third person known in China to have been infected with it. Last year, two young boys caught the virus but were able to recuperate from it. As per the report, the 56-year-old began experiencing symptoms in late February and ended up succumbing to H3N8 on March 16.

She was suffering from “multiple underlying conditions” and is believed to have contracted the virus at a local wet market, according to scientists who traced her whereabouts to track the origin of the virus. It is important to note that the H3N8 virus is not related to the H5N1 flu, which has wreaked havoc among bird and poultry populations in recent months. The latter has also spread to mammals like cats, sea lions, and foxes, according to The Telegraph.

All you need to know about H3N8 bird flu 

So far, no evidence points to the possibility that H3N8 can be transmitted through human-to-human contact. “No close contacts of the case developed an infection or symptoms of illness at the time of reporting,” the WHO said. H3N8 is considered to pose a relatively lower risk to wild birds and domesticated poultry than H5N1. However, even though it causes "minimal to no sign of disease", the strain has been detected in several mammals such as dogs and horses.

One of the most notable outbreak of H3N8 occurred in 2001 in New England and the United States which affected harbour seals and killed 162 animals. According to the US CDC, the strain was "first detected in wild birds in the 1960s and have been detected in other animals." “Avian influenza H3N8 viruses have been sporadically detected in poultry in China and some have been found to be genetically closely related to the human cases reported in 2022," the CDC said in a statement on Monday.