China’s health authority said on Tuesday that it had recorded the first human infection with the H3N8 strain of bird flu, but that the risk of it spreading among people was low.

After developing a fever and other symptoms on April 5, a four-year-old boy from central Henan province was found to be infected with the variant. According to the National Health Commission, no close contacts were infected with the virus.

It was also stated that the child had come into contact with chickens and crows raised at his home. The H3N8 variant has previously been detected in horses, dogs, birds, and seals around the world, but no human cases of H3N8 have been reported, said the National Health Commission.

According to the commission, an initial assessment determined that the variant did not yet have the ability to infect humans effectively, and the risk of a large-scale epidemic was low. Many different strains of bird flu are present in China, and some of them infect people on a sporadic basis, usually those who work with poultry.

Last year, China reported the first H10N3 human case. China has a large population of both farmed and wild birds of various species, which provides an ideal environment for avian viruses to mix and mutate.

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