Commentary
Transmission Concerns for High Path H7N7 In England
Recombinomics Commentary 16:30
June 5, 2008
Report type Immediate notification
Start date 22/05/2008
Date of first confirmation of the event 04/06/2008
Report date 05/06/2008
Date submitted to OIE 05/06/2008
Reason for notification New strain of a listed disease
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype H7N7
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to the whole country
The above comments from the latest OIE report from England indicate the high path H7 is H7N7, the same serotype that caused the massive outbreak in The Netherlands in 2003. 89 cullers and contacts were H7 PCR confirmed and the outbreak resulted in the only bird flu fatality that was not H5N1.
Follow-up testing for H7 antibodies identified over 1000 contacts, most of whom were asymptomatic. The majority of the PCR confirmed cases had conjunctivitis, although a few had influenza-like illness and a few had both conjunctivitis and influenza-like illness.
Recent reports on H7 isolates with increased binding affinity for human receptors or ferret to ferret transmission has increased concerns regarding the human-to-human transmission potential of H7 outbreaks.
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