ECDC initiated a survey of EU/EEA countries to evaluate preparedness planning and risk mitigation initiatives implemented at the country level for people exposed to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A(H5N1).
To assess the level of preparedness of EU/EEA Member States to respond to zoonotic avian flu outbreaks, ECDC has carried out two surveys - one assessing the laboratory capacity for molecular diagnosis and characterisation of zoonotic influenza viruses, and the other focusing on measures applied to protect exposed people during outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
This Threat Assessment Brief considers the risk of infection related to avian influenza A(H5N8) virus to the general population and the occupationally exposed.
A recently published study conducted between 2011 and 2018 in China, and based on surveillance data in pigs, identified an emerging genotype 4 (G4) reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) A(H1N1) swine influenza virus that contains internal genes from the human A(H1N1)pdm09 and North American triple-reassortant (TR) lineage-derived internal genes.
The production of this rapid risk assessment was triggered by a report by the Czech Republic of two travelassociated cases of cholera from Zanzibar (Tanzania) and the cholera epidemics in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden.
Human cases and fatalities due to influenza A(H5N1) virus continue to increase in Egypt, with cases from the country now accounting for the highest number of human cases reported worldwide.
According to a WHO update published on 4 December 2014, eight new human cases of influenza A(H5N1) have been reported in Egypt, with onset of disease in November 2014, bringing the total for 2014 to 12.
This second update to ECDC's initial risk assessment concludes that the risk of the disease spreading to Europe via humans or through poultry is still low at this time.
On 31 March 2013, Chinese authorities announced the identification of a novel reassortant A(H7N9) influenza virus isolated from three unlinked cases of severe respiratory disease in eastern China. This is the first time that human infection with avian influenza virus A(H7N9) has been identified.
Since then, human cases have continued to be reported from eastern China. As of 11 April, there were 38 laboratory-confirmed cases including ten deaths reported from four bordering provinces with a concentration of cases in and around Shanghai. Cases occur sporadically, without obvious epidemiological links. There is currently no confirmed human-to-human transmission.