1st Human case of H10N3 bird flu found in China

  • A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3. 
  • The man is a resident of the city of Zhenjiang.

WHAT IS INFLUENZA?

  • Influenza — also known as the flu — is a contagious viral infection that attacks your respiratory system. 
  • Influenza viruses that infect humans can be classified into three main groups: A, B, and C. 
  • Type A influenza infection can be serious and cause widespread outbreaks and disease.

INFLUENZA A

  • The influenza A virus has two proteins on its surface – hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N).
  • Both H & N have 18 and 11 different subtypes respectively, leading to different combinations such as H3N2 and H7N9. 
  • There are some strains which only infect birds, while others can infect birds as well as mammals such as pigs, dogs, horses and also humans.
  • Influenza have many strains as Influenza A virus mutates constantly. 
  • This is because firstly, it is an RNA virus with a segmented genome, i.e. it has eight separate strands, which makes its copying prone to errors or mutations.

INFLUENZA A IN HUMANS

  • Mostly, humans have only experienced infections by three different H types (H1, H2 and H3), and two different N types (N1 and N2). 
  • Presently, two subtypes, H1N1 and H3N2, circulate among human beings, causing the seasonal flu epidemics. 
  • Since these strains are well adapted to humans, they are referred to as human flu rather than bird flu.
  • Whenever a new flu A virus establishes itself in humans, it can cause a pandemic.  
  • Four such pandemics have occurred since 1918, including The Spanish flu (H1N1), The 1957-58 Asian flu (H2N2), The 1968 Hong Kong flu (H3N2) and The 2009 swine flu (newer version of the H1N1).

H1N03

  • H10N3 is low pathogenic, which means it causes relatively less severe disease in poultry and is unlikely to cause a large scale outbreak.
  • No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have been reported globally yet.
  • At this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission.

DNA AND RNA

  • DNA stores genetic information whereas RNA converts the genetic information. 
  • DNA consists of two strands. 
  • RNA is a much longer polymer than DNA.




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