A Chinese woman has become the first person ever to pass away from the H3N8 strain of bird flu. The 56-year-old fell sick on February 22 and was later taken to hospital with severe pneumonia where she died on March 16.
She is the third recorded person ever to officially be diagnosed with H3N8, which is one of the most common strains in birds, but is very uncommon in humans, the Mirror reports. The World Health Organisation wrote in their latest assessment of the H3N8 infection that the woman from the Guangdong province had 'multiple underlying conditions'.
It added: "She had a history of exposure to live poultry before the onset of the disease, and a history of wild bird presence around her home. No close contacts of the case developed an infection or symptoms of illness at the time of reporting."
