A 41-year-old man in China’s eastern province of Jiangsu has been confirmed as the first human case of infection with a rare strain of bird flu known as H10N3, Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) has said.

Many different strains of bird flu are present in China and some occasionally infect people, usually those working with poultry. There is no indication that H10N3 can spread easily in humans.

The man, a resident of the city of Zhenjiang, was admitted to hospital on April 28 and diagnosed with H10N3 on May 28, the health commission said on Tuesday. It did not give details on how the man was infected.

His condition is now stable and he is ready to be discharged. Investigation of his close contacts found no other cases, the NHC said..

No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have been reported globally, it added.

H10N3 is low pathogenic, which means it causes relatively less severe disease in poultry and is unlikely to cause a large-scale outbreak, the NHC added.

There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed around 300 people during 2016-2017.