Imported H9N2 case in Italy
WHO confirmed Italy’s first imported human H9N2 bird‑flu case in an adult man who had recently returned from Senegal. The report labeled the infection imported and was flagged in WHO surveillance updates as authorities traced the travel history (moroccoworldnews.com).
Italy has confirmed its first imported human case of avian influenza A(H9N2) in a man who returned from Senegal, the World Health Organization said on April 10. (who.int) Italy notified the World Health Organization on March 21 after tests on a hospitalized adult male found an unsubtypeable influenza A virus, and next-generation sequencing later confirmed H9N2. He had traveled to Italy in mid-March after more than six months in Senegal. (who.int) The patient went to an emergency department with fever and a persistent cough, and a bronchoalveolar lavage sample collected on March 16 also tested positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He was placed in a negative-pressure isolation room and treated with oseltamivir and antitubercular drugs. (who.int) Bird flu is influenza that normally spreads in birds, and H9N2 is one of the strains that usually causes sporadic human infections rather than sustained person-to-person spread. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said this was the first human H9N2 case reported in the European Union and European Economic Area. (ecdc.europa.eu) The World Health Organization said the case was imported, not acquired in Italy, and called it the first imported human H9N2 case reported in the World Health Organization European Region. Initial genetic findings linked the infection to an avian source associated with Senegal. (who.int) That travel history matters because H9N2 has already been detected in poultry and environmental samples from live bird markets in Senegal, and Senegal reported a human H9N2 infection in 2020. The virus has also been documented in Senegalese poultry farms and markets in recent surveillance studies. (who.int) (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) Italian authorities traced contacts in Italy and Senegal after the diagnosis. The World Health Organization said contacts in Senegal were asymptomatic, while traced contacts in Italy tested negative for influenza and completed active monitoring and quarantine under national guidelines. (who.int) European health officials said the patient had co-existing medical conditions and remained in hospital isolation when the case was first announced on March 25. By April 9, the World Health Organization said his condition was stable and improving. (ecdc.europa.eu) (who.int) H9N2 is watched closely because it has infected people in Asia and Africa for years, usually after contact with infected birds or contaminated environments. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said 195 human cases had been reported worldwide since 1998 through February 27, 2026, with two deaths and no documented person-to-person transmission. (ecdc.europa.eu) The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control both said the current risk to the general public is low or very low. For now, the case stands as a travel-linked infection under investigation, not evidence of wider spread in Italy. (who.int) (ecdc.europa.eu)
