China finds first human case of H3N8 bird flu infection

China has confirmed its first human case of H3N8 bird flu, but health authorities say the risk of widespread transmission in the population is low

It is reported that H3N8 first appeared in North American waterfowl and became popular in 2002

China's National Health Commission said Tuesday that a four-year-old boy living in central Henan province tested positive for the virus after being hospitalized with fever and other symptoms earlier this month

The boy's family raised chickens at home and lived in an area with wild ducks, the National Health Commission said in a statement

The committee said the boy had been directly infected by the bird and that the strain had not been found to have "effective capacity to infect humans"

It added that testing of the boy's close human contacts had "found no abnormalities"

The National Health Commission said the case was a "one-time cross-species transmission, and the risk of large-scale transmission is low

However, it warned the public not to come into contact with dead or sick birds and to seek immediate medical attention if they develop fever or respiratory symptoms

Avian influenza occurs mainly in wild birds and poultry

The H5N1 and H7N9 strains of bird flu, discovered in 1997 and 2013, respectively, are the leading cause of bird flu cases in humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control

According to the World Health Organization, human infection with zoonotic or animal-transmitted influenza "is primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated environments, but does not result in human-to-human transmission of these viruses.

In 2012, H3N8 killed more than 160 seals on the northeast coast of the United States after it caused deadly pneumonia in animals