How many people in the UK have had bird flu?

Answer 1

According to the National Health Service (NHS), as of July 16, 2009, there have been 26 deaths in England to date.

Health Protective Agency (HPA) estimates that there were 55,000 new cases of swine flu last week (range 30,000 - 85,000). This estimate is based on latest weekly consultation rates for flu-like illness, taking into consideration positivity rates for Swine Flu H1N1 from HPA's virological sampling and a range of assumptions related to the numbers of people attending their GP.

Answer 2

As of April 5, 2013 there have been a total of 16 lab-confirmed cases of human avian flu H7N9 in China. Of those, 6 have died.

Originally there were three cases identified of this new version of human avian flu which was reported first on March 31, 2013. The five new cases reported as of April 5 included three cases in Shanghai and two in Jiangsu. One of these cases in Shanghai involved the death of a 52 year old woman and the other two cases are a 67 year old male in critical condition and a 4 year old boy with mild illness of of the date of the report. The patients involved in the two cases in Jiangsu are both in critical condition.

Currently the source of the exposure has not been identified, but some signs in the laboratory findings indicate it was perhaps a mammal, as opposed to bird version of the flu that mutated to be able to infect humans. So far, this is suspected, not proven. There is no evidence of human to human transmission. Families and other contacts of the infected individuals are being monitored for signs of the illness, which have not yet manifested.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with the Chinese authorities in the investigation and identification of cases which are being reported to WHO. The US CDC is involved in determining a good strain as a candidate virus for vaccine manufacture. Other WHO member countries are also involved in monitoring and reporting cases identified. None have been reported in countries other than China.

As of now, WHO has recommended no travel restrictions to and from China and no trade restrictions.

For updates on the cases reported, there is data available about the disease outbreak on the WHO website. A link is provided in the related links section associated with this Q&A.