01.03.2011

A report in the Journal of Infection details two cases of immunocompromised Chinese patients who contracted H9N2 avian influenza in 2008 and 2009. The first patient, a 3-year-old girl from Shenzhen who had leukemia, had a history of contact with live poultry at a restaurant. She experienced flu-like symptoms and shed virus for 10 days before recovering uneventfully. The second patient, a 47-old-woman from the same city who had post-transplant chronic graft-versus-host disease of the liver and lungs and bronchiolitis obliterans, contracted H9N2 avian influenza less than a year later. She experienced fever, tachycardia, and respiratory distress that required 3 liters per minute of supplemental oxygen. She was known to visit live-bird markets but did not recall contact with poultry in the days before she became ill. Her chest x-rays showed extensive bilateral interstitial infiltrates, but she was able to go home with supplemental oxygen 10 days later and recovered from the H9N2 infection. The authors, from Hong Kong, also discuss nine other H9N2 cases in southern China since 1988, stating, "It is possible that human infection with H9N2 is more common than what has been recognized" (CIDRAP).