Student dies of bird flu in central China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-20 15:30

CHANGSHA - A 16-year-old male student died of bird flu in central China's Hunan Province Tuesday morning, the third death caused by avian influenza in the country in the new year, provincial health authorities reported.

The student, surnamed Wu, died at about 8:10 a.m. in Huaihua City, said an official from the Hunan provincial health bureau.

Wu fell ill on January 8 in southwestern Guizhou Province and was transferred to a hospital in Huaihua on January 16 when his condition worsened, he said.

Wu tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to the test result on Monday from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The patient had had contact with poultry, the official said. But no more details had been revealed.

The people who had close contact with the patient are under medical observation. No one has been found ill so far.

A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang died of bird flu in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday, which was the second death caused by avian influenza in the country in the new year.

The first death this year from bird flu was a 19-year-old woman named Huang Yanqing who died in Beijing on January 5.