Europe records H9N2 human case
Italy has reported what authorities are calling Europe’s first human H9N2 bird‑flu case, with the patient hospitalized for fever and a persistent cough and WHO advising people to avoid contact. (express.co.uk) Coverage frames the single case as an alert that merits attention, and public-health outlets are monitoring for further human or animal spread. (northernforum.net)
H9N2 is a bird-flu subtype that usually circulates in poultry, and Italy has now recorded Europe’s first human case in a traveler who returned from Senegal. (who.int) The World Health Organization said Italy notified it on March 21, 2026, after testing identified influenza A(H9N2) in an adult man in Lombardy. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Italy publicly reported the case on March 25. (who.int) (ecdc.europa.eu) The patient had spent more than six months in Senegal and traveled to Italy in mid-March. He went to an emergency department with fever and a persistent cough, and doctors placed him in a negative-pressure isolation room after an early test found an unsubtypeable influenza A virus. (who.int) A bronchoalveolar lavage sample collected on March 16 also tested positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Italy treated him with tuberculosis drugs and the antiviral oseltamivir, and the World Health Organization said his condition was stable and improving by April 9. (who.int) H9N2 is not the bird-flu strain that has driven the largest recent outbreaks in wild birds and poultry. The Food and Agriculture Organization says avian influenza affects poultry, wildlife and, at times, humans, while recent global spread has been dominated by highly pathogenic H5N1 rather than H9N2. (fao.org) What makes H9N2 different is that it is usually described as low pathogenicity in birds, meaning it often causes less dramatic disease in poultry even as it keeps circulating. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said 195 human H9N2 cases had been reported worldwide by February 27, 2026, across 10 countries in Asia and Africa. (ecdc.europa.eu) The same European agency said only two of those 195 known human infections were fatal. It also said no clusters of H9N2 in people and no documented person-to-person transmission had been reported. (ecdc.europa.eu) Investigators have not identified a direct animal exposure for the Lombardy patient, but genetic sequencing linked the virus closely to strains previously found in poultry in Senegal. The World Health Organization said the infection was likely acquired from an avian source there. (who.int) Italian authorities traced contacts in Italy and Senegal after the diagnosis. The World Health Organization said contacts in Senegal remained asymptomatic, while all traced contacts in Italy tested negative for influenza, completed active monitoring and quarantine under national guidelines, and received preventive oseltamivir. (who.int) The World Health Organization currently rates the risk from H9N2 viruses to the general public as low, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control rates the risk in the European Union and European Economic Area as very low. Both agencies said they are continuing to monitor the virus and the Italian investigation. (who.int) (ecdc.europa.eu)
