Biology Digest

  SANTIAGO, March 29 (Reuters) - Chile detected the first case of bird flue in a human, the country's health ministry reported on Wednesday. The case was detected in a 53-year-old man who presented severe influenza symptoms, according to a statement issued by the ministry, but they noted the patient was in stable condition. The government is also investigating the source of contagion as well as others who were in contact with the patient. Chile has reported cases of the H5N1 bird flu since late last year in wild animals. Recent cases in industrial farms caused the government to halt poultry exports. Industrial cases have also been  detected in Argentina , but Brazil, the world's largest exporter of poultry, remains free of the contagion. Chilean health authorities noted the virus can be transmitted from birds or marine mammals to humans, but there is no known human-to-human transmission. Earlier this year, Ecuador confirmed its first case of human transmission of  bid flu in a

  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, Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday. Many different strains of bird flu are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry. There is no indication that H10N3 can spread easily in humans. The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was hospitalized on April 28 and diagnosed with H10N3 on May 28, the health commission said. It did not give details on how the man was infected. His condition is now stable and he is ready to be discharged. Investigation of his close contacts found no other cases, the NHC said. No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have been reported globally, it added. H10N3 is low pathogenic, which means it causes relatively less severe disease in poultry and is unlikely to cause a large-scale outbreak, the NHC added. The World Health Organi