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H1, H2, H3, N1 and N2 have been associated with epidemics of human influenza. H5
and H7 have been associated with outbreaks in chickens and turkeys. However, in
1997, an outbreak of human influenza associated with an avian influenza virus,
H5N1, had occurred in Hong Kong, involving 18 persons, six of whom died. In
1999, another avian influenza virus, (H9N2), was found to have infected two Hong
Kong children. In 1996 an Irish woman with conjunctivitis was found to be
infected with an avian virus characterized as H7N7; this virus is almost
identical to H7N7 isolated from turkeys in Ireland in 1995. |
