An old, terrible disease has once again frightened the world: the first human death this year from the H3N8 bird flu virus has caused tourism to shudder. According to foreign media reports, the victim of this virus was registered in China. The victim was not a tourist, but a resident, and of a deep Chinese province. However, everyone remembers how the covid pandemic began, so news of such a plan is now perceived by everyone with extreme caution.
All the more, tourism shuddered at this news against the background of the “rediscovery” of China, because the whole world is counting on Chinese tourist flows, which may be cut off again. And if the disease takes the form of an epidemic, then lockdowns can again become a common practice for many countries.
The victim most likely got infected by poultry. At least doctors diagnosed back in February that a 56-year-old resident of the Chinese province of Guangdong was infected with the H3N8 subtype of the virus and had been in contact with poultry before the onset of the disease. The disease was recorded back in February, in March the victim was hospitalized with severe pneumonia – and in a few weeks, she died.
So far, samples from the local market have been tested and all have tested positive for the flu. In total, WHO registered three cases of H3N8 infection, and all of them again occurred in China.
However, so far even the WHO assures that there is no outbreak and “there is nothing to worry about” since this subtype of bird flu “cannot be easily transmitted from person to person”. However, the Chinese authorities, taught by bitter experience, nevertheless decided to carry out enhanced disinfection at the place of residence of the deceased.