Beijing confirms first H7N9 infection

Beijing confirmed its first H7N9 infection on Saturday, while health authorities are closely watching a case in Shanghai to figure out whether the virus can be transmitted between people.

In the capital a 7-year-old girl is in stable condition after being treated at Beijing Ditan Hospital. Her parents, who sell poultry, are in quarantine but are fine so far, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau commented on Saturday.

There was one new case in Shanghai, two in Jiangsu province and two in Zhejiang province. It's the first time Beijing has reported a case, bringing the total number of infections to 49 by 5 pm on Saturday, with 11 deaths.

According to the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, the girl from Beijing's northeast Shunyi district, was coughing, had a fever, headache and a sore throat on Thursday morning. She was hospitalized in the afternoon for a pulmonary infection and later transferred to the intensive care unit as her condition deteriorated.

Early on Friday morning, the hospital reported the case and sent specimens from the girl to the center for disease control and prevention in Chaoyang district, which determined it was a case of the Influenza A virus, before forwarding the findings to the city's Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The city's CDC found H7N9 in the specimen that afternoon, and sent it to the China CDC for further confirmation. The latter confirmed the infection early Saturday morning.

Though the girl is still in intensive care, her body temperature has dropped from 40.2 C to 36.8 C, said the city's health bureau.

"We gave her the drug Tamiflu within 15 hours after she showed symptoms," Cheng Jun, spokesman for Ditan Hospital, confirmed to China Central Television. "We also turned to traditional Chinese medicines to treat her condition."

Latest development of H7N9 in China[Special]

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