Overview
- Lombardy health authorities confirmed a human infection with avian influenza A(H9N2), the first documented case in Europe, in a patient with underlying conditions who was infected abroad and is isolated at San Gerardo Hospital in Monza.
- Regional teams traced health workers, relatives, and passengers from the patient’s flight, and all tested negative for the virus.
- The Ministry of Health coordinated with Regione Lombardia, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, and national reference laboratories to verify the strain and brief European agencies.
- ECDC assesses the risk as low for the general public and as moderate only for people who work with infected poultry or in affected farm settings.
- H9N2 infections in people are rare and usually mild, with about 170 cases reported worldwide, unlike H5N1 which has caused about a thousand cases with a far higher death rate.