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Human illness caused by a novel avian-origin influenza A (H7N9) virus has been reported in China since February 2013. Investigators recently studied patients with severe, laboratory-confirmed H7N9 infection in March–April in eastern China. They also collected and analyzed cloacal specimens from poultry in six epidemiologically linked wet markets.
The four patients (mean age, 56; all with recent poultry exposure) had fever, rapidly progressive pneumonia, leukopenia, impaired liver or renal function, increased serum cytokine or chemokine concentrations, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. The illness did not respond to antibiotics; three patients received oseltamivir, initiated a mean of 16 days after symptom onset. Two patients died. …