On April 21, 2016, officials from the China Health and Family Planning Commission in Hubei Province announced one H5N6 influenza infection, which is the first case of H5N6 influenza infection reported in the province. As a result, there is a potential risk of H5N6 transmission in Hubei Province. In response, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) has thus raised the travel notice level for Hubei Province to Level 2: Alert for avian influenza. Travelers visiting China are urged to heighten their vigilance for avian influenza and practice good personal hygiene and avoid contact with poultry and birds and consume only thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs in order to ward off infection.

The case is a 35-year-old male who resides in Shennongjia Forestry District, Hubei Province, China. He had not traveled out of town two weeks prior to his disease onset. However, he had contact with live poultry in the live poultry market. The case is currently isolated in critical condition. None of the close contacts has developed any suspected symptoms. The local health authority stated that since there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H5N6 virus, the case should be a sporadic case.

Since fall 2015, a cumulative total of 7 H5N6 influenza infections have been confirmed in China, including 5 in Guangdong Province, 1 in Jiangxi Province who previously resided in Guangdong Province, and 1 in Hubei Province. The majority of them had a history of live poultry exposure. Currently, Taiwan CDC has issued a travel notice of Level 2: Alert for avian influenza to Zhejiang Province, Guangdong Province, Anhui Province, Hunan Province, Shanghai City, Jiangxi Province, Jiangsu Province, Sichuan Province, Fujian Province, Shandong Province, and Hubei Province, and a travel notice of Level 1: Watch for avian influenza to the other provinces and cities in China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

Taiwan CDC once again urges travelers visiting China to practice good personal hygiene such as washing hands frequently and putting on a mask when coughing and take preventive measures such as avoiding direct contact with poultry and birds or their droppings/dead bodies, and consuming only thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs. If influenza-like illness symptoms develop upon arriving in Taiwan, please voluntarily notify the airline crew and the quarantine officer at the quarantine station in the airport. If influenza-like symptoms such as fever and cough develop after returning to Taiwan, please put on a surgical mask and seek immediate medical attention.  Moreover, please inform the physician of the recent travel and exposure history to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. For more information, please visit the Taiwan CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov.tw or call the toll-free Communicable Disease Reporting and Consultation Hotline, 1922 (or 0800-001922).