Human emerging respiratory pathogens bulletin: Issue 44, August 2020

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Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada

Date published: 2020-09-09

Monthly situational analysis of emerging respiratory diseases affecting humans (data to August 31, 2020)

In this bulletin

COVID-2019 update
Avian influenza updates
Swine influenza updates
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) update

Update on human emerging respiratory pathogen public health events (as of August 31, 2020)
Novel influenza^{Table 1 Footnote 1}	Cumulative Case Count^{Table 1 Footnote 2}	Deaths	Case Fatality Rate %^{Table 1 Footnote 3}
A(H7N9)	1,568	615	39%
A(H5N1)	879	461	52%
A(H9N2)	58	1	2%
A(H5N6)	24	7	29%
A(H7N4)	1	0	0%
A(H1N2)	2	0	0%
A(H3N2)v	436	1	<1%
A(H1N2)v	27	0	0%
A(H1N1)v	26	0	0%
MERS-CoV^{Table 1 Footnote 1}	Cumulative Case Count^{Table 1 Footnote 2}	Deaths	Case Fatality Rate %^{Table 1 Footnote 3}
Global Case Count	2,553	872	34%
Saudi Arabia	2,157	794	37%
Table 1 Footnote 1 Date of 1st Reported Case of Human Infection: MERS-CoV: February 2013 (retrospective case finding September 2012). A(H7N9): March 2013. A(H5N1): 1997. A(H9N2): 1998. A(H5N6): 2014. A(H7N4): February 2018. A(H3N2)v with M gene from pH1N1: 2011. A(H1N2)v: 2005. A(H1N1)v: 2005. Table 1 Return to footnote 1 referrer Table 1 Footnote 2 Cumulative Case Counts: updated using data reported by the World Health Organization (avian and swine influenza, MERS CoV), and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) (swine influenza). Table 1 Return to footnote 2 referrer Table 1 Footnote 3 Case Fatality Rate: The proportion of cases that resulted in death. Table 1 Return to footnote 3 referrer

COVID-19 update

On December 31, 2019, cases of a pneumonia of unknown etiology were reported in Wuhan, China, which have since been determined to be due to a novel coronavirus (COVID-2019). On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

As of August 31, 2020, 128,948 cases and 9,126 deaths of COVID-2019 have been reported in Canada.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is monitoring the situation closely.

Avian influenza updates

Avian influenza A(H7N9)

No new H7N9 cases were reported to the WHO in August 2020. The last case was globally reported in April 2019. Two travel-related cases were reported in Canada in January 2015. A total of 1568 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9), including at least 615 deaths, have been reported globally since 2013 (Figure 1).

Temporal distribution of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9), globally, by month and year, January 1, 2013 to August 31, 2020 (n=1568).
Dates	Cases	Deaths
2016	Jun	2	0
Jul	4	0
Aug	0	0
Sep	0	0
Oct	2	0
Nov	10	2
Dec	114	39
2017	Jan	197	29
Feb	93	13
Mar	70	12
Apr	72	24
May	50	6
Jun	19	4
Jul	2	0
Aug	3	2
Sep	1	0
Oct	0	0
Nov	0	0
Dec	1	0
2018	Jan	1	1
Feb	1	0
Mar	0	0
Apr	0	0
May	0	0
June	0	0
July	0	0
Aug	0	0
Sep	0	0
Oct	0	0
Nov	0	0
Dec	0	0
2019	Jan	0	0
Feb	0	0
Mar	0	0
Apr	1	0
May	0	0
June	0	0
July	0	0
Aug	0	0
Sept	0	0
Oct	0	0
Nov	0	0
Dec	0	0
2020	Jan	0	0
Feb	0	0
Mar	0	0
Apr	0	0
May	0	0
June	0	0
July	0	0
Aug	0	0

Avian influenza A(H5N1)

No new H5N1 cases were reported to WHO in August 2020. The most recent case was reported in March 25, 2019 in Nepal. A total of 879 cases including 461 deaths have been reported globally since 1997. One fatal travel-related case of H5N1 was reported in Canada in January 2014.

Avian influenza A(H5N6)

No new cases of H5N6 were reported to the WHO in August 2020. The most recent case of H5N6 was reported in China in August 2019. There have been a total of 24 cases, including 7 deaths, reported globally since 2014, all in China.

Swine influenza updates

Swine origin influenza A(H3N2)v

The most recent case of swine origin influenza H3N2v was reported in July 2020 in the United States and this case was the first human case of A(H3N2)v reported out of the United States since 2018. A total of 436 cases, including one death, have been reported globally since 2011. One locally acquired case of H3N2v was reported in Canada in December 2016.

Swine origin influenza A(H1N2)v

The most recent case of swine origin influenza H1N2v was reported in June 2020 in Brazil. The case reported exposure to swine at a slaughterhouse. Most reported H1N2v cases result in mild illness.

Swine origin influenza A(H1N1)v

The most recent case of swine origin influenza A(H1N1) infection was detected in Germany in June 2020. This case presented with influenza-like illness after contact with pigs during a farm visit. To date, reported H1N1v infections have been associated with mild illness.

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) update

No new cases of MERS-CoV were reported in August 2020. A total of 2,553 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, including 872 deaths, have been reported globally since 2012 by the WHO. No cases have been reported in Canada.

A figure indicating the temporal distribution of MERS-CoV cases, globally, January 1st, 2018 – August 31st, 2020. — **Figure 2. Temporal distribution of human cases of MERS-CoV reported to the WHO, globally, by month and year, January 1, 2018 to August 31, 2020 (n=398).**

Temporal distribution of human cases of MERS-CoV reported to the WHO, globally, by month and year, January 1, 2018 to July 31, 2020 (n=398).
Date	Cases	Deaths
2018	Jan	17	11
Feb	14	2
Mar	17	4
Apr	8	5
May	13	2
June	10	1
July	7	3
Aug	6	2
Sep	14	6
Oct	9	2
Nov	7	1
Dec	5	0
2019	Jan	19	5
Feb	76	14
Mar	29	3
Apr	22	7
May	14	4
June	7	1
July	9	4
Aug	6	1
Sep	4	1
Oct	14	6
Nov	15	2
Dec	4	2
2020	Jan	17	2
Feb	19	3
Mar	15	5
Apr	2	0
May	1	1
June	0	0
July	0	0
Aug	0	0

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Date modified:: 2020-09-09

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