BEIJING: China has confirmed the first known human case of the H3N8 strain of avian flu. The disease has been detected in a four-year-old boy living in central Henan province, said China's National Health Commission

The boy, who tested positive for the strain, had been hospitalized earlier this month with fever and other symptoms. His family has raised chickens at their home and lived in an area populated by wild ducks, the NHC said in a statement.

The boy was infected directly by birds and the strain was not found to have the ability to effectively infect humans”, the commission said. The tests of the boy's close human contacts found no abnormalities. The boy's case was a one-off cross-species transmission, and the risk of large-scale transmission of H3N8 is low, added the NHC.

Soon after the disease was confirmed, the public have been warned to stay away from dead or sick birds and seek immediate treatment for fever or respiratory symptoms.

H3N8 was first detected in waterfowl in North America in 2002. It had mainly infected horses and seals. In 2012, it was blamed for the deaths of more than 160 seals off the northeastern coast of the United States. Similar cases are very rare among human beings.