“The 56-year-old Chinese lady who died after contracting the H3N8 variant of avian flu had many other comorbidities and had had direct contact with poultry. We have recorded cases of animal-human infections with bird flu but not cases of human-to-human transmission. Surely we must continue to be vigilant because avian flu is a topic that will keep us company for the next few years. Unfortunately, this virus has made many rounds among animals and has reassorted and mutated”. So at time.news Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoaon the death of the woman who died in China and tested positive for H3N8 bird flu in late March.
Whether or not there are risks for the West, Bassetti clarifies: “I would say that we have understood that there are no differences between East and West, viruses travel without borders. There is no virus from one part of the world and not from the other – he warns – the risk for the West will be much less the more it knows how to quickly intercept the problems”.