#H7N9 – Death rate seems to have settled at 20%. Yikes! 102 cases 20 deaths…still no ID of source

Latest Case Count

As of 21 April, there were 102 cases and 20 deaths.  No additional provinces have been added and no clearer picture about the source of infection. What happens next?!?  Who knows! Virus reproduction and replication will continue and if the “right” random event occurs things could really change…otherwise, this could go on for who knows how long or it could fizzle out.

20%….Yikes!

Shane Granger, an interesting blogger, has done the analytics on the H7N9 and has produced a very easy to understand graph of the reported cases and deaths as on 22 April.

http://gmggranger.wordpress.com

Partly cloudy with a high of H7N9

Virologist Vincent Racaniello is such a great guy and has quite the sense of humor about viruses.  😉 His weekly TWIV podcast has a section about H7N9 entitled “Partly cloudy with a high of H7N9”…yes…viruses can be fun!  😉

He and several other virus guys share interesting tidbits about the H7 viruses.  One fact is that the H7 viruses is prone to replicating in the eye so that if someone butchering a chicken or working with birds gets bird material in their eyes they could possibly acquire the virus. The eyes could then transfers the virus into the back of your throat and in some cases infect the brain via the optic nerve.  One of the best places to swab to find the H7 virus is the eye.  He has interesting links and a great podcast at the link below

http://www.twiv.tv/2013/04/21/twiv-229-partly-cloudy-with-a-high-of-h7n9/