Researchers have analysed the association between influenza A(H7N9) confirmed cases and exposure to poultry in Huzhou city in Zhejiang province.

The main authors of the paper, pulbished in Eurosurveillance, were based at Huzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.

All cases (n=12) had a history of direct exposure to poultry or live poultry markets.

They detected A(H7N9)-positive poultry samples from each site that was epidemiologically associated with cases.

None of the cases’ close contacts tested positive.

After closure of the markets, no new cases were identified, suggesting an epidemiological link between poultry exposure and A(H7N9) virus infection.

Reference

^{Han J., M. Jin, P. Zhang, J. Liu, L. Wang, D. Wen X. Wu, G. Liu, Y. Zou, X. Lv, X. Dong, B. Shao, S. Gu, D. Zhou, Q. Leng, C. Zhang and K Lan. 2013. Epidemiological link between exposure to poultry and all influenza A(H7N9) confirmed cases in Huzhou city, China, March to May 2013. Eurosurveillance. 18(20):pii=20481.}