Amid the Coronavirus outbreak, China is now Suffering from Bird Flu

China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs reported animal epidemic H5N1 bird flu in thousands of chickens in the Hunan province. The region borders the Hubei province, the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak.

Out of 7,850 chickens, 4,500 of them died from the contagion. Local authorities have sorted 17,828 poultry after the outbreak.

According to one report, there are no reported human cases of the flu. The transmission of the infection to humans is rare.

The World Health Organization reports the disease in people has been the result of close contact with infected birds or virus-contaminated environments.

Furthermore, the H5N1 bird flu can cause severe respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia and can be a basis of neurological changes such as an altered mental state.

Still, the virus is a cause for concern because it has a 60% mortality rate among infected humans.

Therefore, consequences for public health could be severe, WHO said in a statement.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider the bird flu to have pandemic potential.

CDC reports animal flu viruses can change such that they may gain the ability to infect people easily.

Virus Cases Found in Europe and Other Parts of the World

The first H5N1 avian flu case was detected in geese in China in 1996, and the first human case was diagnosed in 1997 in Hong Kong.

The most recent case was recorded in January 2014 when the infected person had returned to Canada from China. There have not been any reports of the Asian virus infections in people and poultry in the US.

However, Polish authorities reported the bird flu in eastern Poland among turkeys. The epidemic could require slaughtering up to 40,000 birds.

Similarly, the Czech Republic has found a second case of the virus at a poultry farm. The country reported its first case of the infection in January. Since the beginning of the year, several cases also appeared in other countries.

Earlier this season, at the end of January, Ukraine reported the first bird flu case in three years. The virus spread in the west-central part of the country.

The news of this bird outbreak comes as China struggles with the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 1770 people in China and infected more than 71,000 globally.

Nearly 100 deaths were reported on Sunday, the most significant single-day death toll since the outbreak appeared less than two months ago.