August 21, 2014
China: H7N9 detected in Guangdong and Shandong
China's agriculture ministry detected the H7N9 virus in 14 samples from Guangdong and Shandong provinces, according to an August 15 update from the World Health Organisation's Western Pacific Region.
The monitoring results cover much of July and the first third of August and included 23,516 serum samples and 12,755 virologic samples from Guangdong and Shandong provinces.
Nine samples from Guangdong were positive, all from live bird markets, and five from Shandong, two from breeder farms and three from layer farms. All of the positive tests were in serum samples.
H7N9 avian flu has been circulating in Chinese poultry and began spreading in humans in the spring of 2013. Although human cases have slowed, over 450 have occurred.