First H7N9 bird flu case confirmed in Jiangxi

NANCHANG - Health authorities in east China's Jiangxi province late on Thursday confirmed the province's first human case of H7N9 avian influenza, bring the total human infections in the Chinese mainland to 112.

A 69-year-old man surnamed Xiong, a local retiree in the provincial capital of Nanchang, showed symptoms of high fever, tight chest and diarrhea, and was admitted to the No 3 Hospital in Nanchang, according to a statement issued by the provincial health department.

Xiong is in critical condition, said the statement.

He had not left the city recently, nor had any contact with dead birds, but lives near a live poultry market, the statement said.

The city's disease control authority has quarantined 14 people who have had close contact with the patient. None of them have exhibited any abnormal symptoms.

Three more new cases of H7N9 bird flu were reported on Thursday, two in Zhejiang province and one in Henan province.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission said in its Wednesday update that the total number of H7N9 cases reported in the mainland stood at 108, including 23 cases that have ended in death.

Most of the cases were reported in east China's Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.