According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region, from 9 to 15 January 2026, three new cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2) virus were reported. All three cases were reported from China.
The first case is a five-year-old male from Hubei Province, with an onset of symptoms on 30 November 2025; the second case is an eight-year-old female from Jiangsu Province, with an onset date on 4 December 2025; the third case is a one-year-old male from Guangxi Province, with an onset date on 7 December 2025.
Only the first case had exposure to backyard poultry whereas the other two cases reported no known exposure to live poultry.
The parents of the second case visited a store selling freshly slaughtered poultry, and the third case also had indirect exposure to freshly slaughtered poultry. All three cases have now recovered.
Since December 2015, a total of 155 cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2), including two deaths (both with underlying conditions), have been reported to WHO in the Western Pacific Region. Of these, 152 were reported from China, two were from Cambodia, and one was from Viet Nam.
H9N2 avian influenza is a common, low-pathogenicity bird flu virus endemic in poultry worldwide, especially in Asia.
People get infected primarily through direct contact with infected birds or contaminated environments.
Symptoms in humans range from mild (fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache) to severe (pneumonia, difficulty breathing, conjunctivitis, gastrointestinal issues).
Its prevalence in poultry, especially in China, makes it a significant public health concern, requiring robust monitoring.
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Hi,
Can you share the link of the source? As according to the latest reports of WHO there weren't any cases.
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/wpro---documents/emergency/surveillance/avian-influenza/ai_20260116.pdf
Excellet documentation of the indirect exposure pathways. Two of these cases show contamination can happen without direct poultry contact, just through visiting shops that sell freshly slaughtered birds, which complicates surveillance alot. I worked in a rural health clinic in southeast Asia few years back and we saw similar cases where parents didnt connect that brief shop visit to their childs symptoms later. The low-pathogenicity characteristic is kinda deceptive becuase ppl dismiss it until the numbers accumalate.