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.
On 31 March 2013, the Chinese authorities announced the identification of a novel influenza A virus, A(H7N9), in three seriously ill people from two provinces presenting with respiratory infections. So far, no epidemiological link has been identified between those three patients. When testing for the influenza virus, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention identified genes from both A(H7N9) and A(H9N2) viruses, thus indicating a novel reassortant avian influenza A virus. In its initial assessment of the situation, the ECDC rapid risk assessment concludes that the risk of the spread of the virus in Europe can be considered low at this stage.
ECDC has produced an annual risk assessment of the seasonal influenza epidemics in Europe since the 2010/11 season following the model developed by ECDC during the 2009 pandemic. It gives an early description of the influenza season in the countries affected earliest, providing guidance and information to countries that are affected later, as influenza progresses across Europe over several months. It describes any specifics of the season, particularly in areas where public health or clinical actions are envisaged, as well as highlights areas of uncertainty where further work is required.
Following an invitation from Greek authorities, a team of experts from ECDC, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe visited Greece in May 2012.
New and noteworthy in this update: the retrospective identification of novel coronavirus in biological samples from two fatal cases in Jordan (April 2012) and the results of a joint ECDC/WHO survey which confirms that EU/EEA Member States have an adequate capacity to detect novel coronavirus through their network of national reference laboratories: 18 of 30 in EU/EEA countries are capable of confirming positive screened samples by either ORF1b RT-PCR or other target RT-PCR assays with sequence analysis or whole-genome sequence analysis.
CDC updated risk assessment concludes that in the absence of evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission outside of household settings, the current facts still point towards a hypothesis of a zoonotic or environmental source with occasional transmission to exposed humans. WHO does not advise any travel or trade restrictions at this point for KSA or Qatar.
Following recent increased reporting of human infections in the US with an influenza A(H3N2) variant virus of swine origin (A(H3N2)v), ECDC has updated its risk assessment. It concludes that the swine-origin influenza A(H3N2)v viruses do not currently pose a serious risk to human health in general and Europe in particular.
In May 2011, the European Commission asked ECDC to estimate the change in total exposure risk to hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during reproductive cell handling and storage for secondary parties, if the current scheme of testing at each cell donation would change to testing partner donors of reproductive cells once or twice a year.
Following a request by the Romanian government, ECDC conducted a second follow-up country visit to Romania covering HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and hepatitis B and C from 11–13 May 2011.