China reports new human death from bird flu
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-01-19 07:06

A Chinese woman in southwest China's Sichuan Province died from bird flu, the Health Ministry said Wednesday, bringing the country's total death toll from the disease to six.

The 35-year-old woman surnamed Wei from Zhoujiaxiang Village of Jianyang City died on January 11, the ministry said on its Web site.

The woman -- a poultry slaughterer -- lived in a village where domestic birds had died, the statement said, though it did not say if they had succumbed to the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus to which the victim tested positive.

This is the ninth human case of bird flu reported in China.

Those having close contact with the new victim have been put under medical observation. So far, none of them has shown abnormal symptoms.

The new case had been reported to the World Health Organization, the ministry said.

The virus has killed around 80 people since re-emerging in 2003, all but four of them in East Asia.

An international bird flu conference ended Wednesday in Beijing, with donor countries and organizations pledging 1.9 billion dollars to fight the killer virus worldwide.