First H3N8 bird flu death recorded in China

GENEVA: A woman has died from H3N8 bird flu in China, the World Health Organisation reported on Tuesday -- the first known human fatality from the avian influenza strain.

H3N8 is known to have been circulating since 2002 after first emerging in North American waterfowl. It is known to infect horses, dogs and seals. It had not been detected in humans before two prior non-fatal cases emerged -- both also in China -- in April and May last year. The woman who died was a 56-year-old from Guangdong province in southeast China.