FIRST CASE OF HUMAN INFECTED WITH AVIAN FLU RECORDED IN CHINA

The world's first case of a human infected with H10N3 avian influenza was detected in China, but the country's health authorities said Tuesday that rampant spread is "extremely" unlikely, the Global Times reported, according to a report from the Kyodo News.

A 41-year-old man from a city in Jiangsu Province had such symptoms as fever and was admitted to a local medical institute for treatment in late April, the tabloid affiliated with the ruling Communist Party said, citing China's National Health Commission.

The commission was quoted as saying, "No human cases of H10N3 have been reported in the world, and the H10N3 virus among poultry is low pathogenic."

"This case is an occasional poultry-to-human cross-species transmission, and the risk of a large-scale spread is extremely low," it said while instructing the city to carry out measures to prevent an outbreak of the virus, according to the Global Times.

The newspaper reported it is unknown how the man became infected, but the virus may have been transmitted via respiratory droplets of poultry or direct contact with sick live poultry.

Regarding avian influenza, also known as bird flu, Russia said in February that a case of human infection with the H5N8 virus was confirmed for the first time in the world and it has been spreading across the globe.

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