H7N9 snapdate: new charts for sex and age distribution and region of acquisition...

Two new charts.

Click on image to enlarge.

Firstly, the "age pyramid", a revised and combined version of the age and sex distribution charts for 265/267 H7N9 cases to date. This one comes with many thanks to Shane Granger for helping me learn a new trick. Please follow him @gmggranger or visit his chart-tacular blog, Random Analytics at http://gmggranger.wordpress.com/.

Secondly, we have the latest map of the H7N9 hotzone; adjusted to account for Zhejiang tipping over the 100 cases mark (new colours!), and for the addition of a new province into the world of H7N9 human infections; Guangxi. This marks the first new region and 13th to generate cases overall, since 9-Aug-2013. 

H7N9 has thus crept sideways towards the west and as FluTrackers noted, Guangxi shares a border with Vietnam. An entire other country. The first shared land border since we learned of H7N9 I think. I'm no expert in this topic, but trade in poultry and tourists between these two regions seems commonplace, as noted here, here and to the extent that research such as this study (and its references) indicate H5N1 sequences are shared between the regions.

Do we know if Vietnam actively employs laboratory methods to screen poultry for H7N9, H9N2, H10N8 screening of their birds? I suspect we'll learn soon if not.