3-year-old boy confirmed having H7N9 bird flu in China

A 3-year-old boy in south China's Guangdong Province was yesterday confirmed to have H7N9 bird flu. The boy, a Sichuan Province native living in a village in Dongguan City, tested positive for the virus at the Dongguan City Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This followed routine monitoring of flu-like cases in Changping Hospital on Monday afternoon and was confirmed by the provincial CDC yesterday morning, Xinhuanet quoted Guangdong Province Health and Family Planning Commission as saying. It is the third H7N9 case confirmed this autumn in China, following two infections in Zhejiang Province on October 15 and 23 The boy is receiving treatment in isolation at the People's Hospital of Dongguan City. He is in a stable condition without fever, while other flu-like symptoms he has are not serious, said officials. The seven people who have had close contact with him are under observation. Three have shown flu-like symptoms, but all seven tested negative for the H7N9 virus.