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H1, H2, H3, N1 and N2 have been associated with
epidemics of human influenza. H5
and H7 have been associated with outbreaks in chickens and turkeys.
However, in 1997, an outbreak of human influenza associated with A(H5N1)
had occurred in Hong Kong, involving 18 persons, six of whom died.
The infection was most likely transmitted from infected chickens to
humans. In March 1999, another
avian virus, A (H9N2) was isolated from two Hong Kong children with influenza.
Five additional cases were reported from Mainland China.
In 1996 an Irish woman with conjunctivitis was found to be infected with
an avian virus characterized by H7 and N7; this virus is almost identical to
H7N7 isolated from turkeys in Ireland in 1995.
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