China confirms first human case of bird flu strain

Bird Flu

China reported the world's first human infection of the H10N3 bird flu strain on Tuesday but said the risk of it spreading widely among people was low. A 41-year-old man was admitted to hospital with fever symptoms in the eastern city of Zhenjiang on April 28 and was diagnosed with H10N3 a month later, China's National Health Commission (NHC) said in an online statement. ‘The risk of large-scale spread is extremely low,’ the NHC said, adding that the man was in a stable condition and his close contacts had reported no ‘abnormalities.’ It described H10N3 as low pathogenic -- less likely to cause death or severe illness -- in birds.