Human infection of avian influenza A H3N8 virus and the viral origins: a descriptive study
The Lancet Microbe·
- DOI
- 10.1016/s2666-5247(22)00192-6
- PMID
- 36115379
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W4295776561
- Study type
- Genomic study
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The abstract identifies the virus's binding to human-type receptors and its occurrence in a human case as relevant to human health. The authors describe the observed human infection risk as low, with rare and sporadic cases, and call for monitoring of poultry and environmental virus activity and poultry-to-human transmission.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study examined the clinical, epidemiological, and virological characteristics of a second human H3N8 avian influenza infection in China and investigated the virus's origins, receptor-binding properties, and evidence of infection among poultry workers.
Study design
This was a descriptive investigation of one diagnosed human case, combining clinical and epidemiological assessment, viral isolation and genome sequencing, phylogenetic analysis, receptor-binding experiments, mutation analysis, retrospective analysis of H3N8 strains from chicken flocks, and serological testing among poultry workers.
Population and setting
The case involved a 5-year-old boy diagnosed during influenza-like illness surveillance in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, in May 2022. The investigation also included H3N8 virus strains from Chinese chicken flocks collected from January 2021 to April 2022 and poultry workers in Hunan and the province associated with the other reported H3N8 case.
Main findings
The child had mild influenza-like illness without pneumonia, and H3N8 virus was isolated from a throat swab. Genomic analyses indicated multiple reassortment events involving avian H3, North American-lineage N8, and internal genes associated with H9N2 viruses; the viruses bound both avian-type and human-type sialic acid receptors. None of the poultry workers tested had antibodies against H3N8.
Public-health relevance
The abstract identifies the virus's binding to human-type receptors and its occurrence in a human case as relevant to human health. The authors describe the observed human infection risk as low, with rare and sporadic cases, and call for monitoring of poultry and environmental virus activity and poultry-to-human transmission.
Important limitations
The evidence concerns one human case and the abstract does not report antibody positivity among the tested poultry workers. The summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is required for decision-grade assessment of methods, sample sizes, uncertainty, and other limitations.
GIDS interpretation
The article is discoverable in contexts related to influenza, surveillance, outbreak investigation, genomic epidemiology, and One Health because it reports a human avian influenza case alongside poultry-virus and worker-serology investigations in China. This single article provides study-specific context only and does not establish or confirm a live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 13 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.