New Human Case Of Bird Flu Confirmed In China

An eight-year pupil in southwest China's Sichuan province was confirmed to be infected with H5N1 bird flu, the health ministry said Thursday.

The girl, surnamed Sun, from Tangjia township in Suining city of Sichuan, showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia April 16. She was being treated in a local hospital, according to the ministry.

Investigators reported that poultry deaths occurred in the patient's house before she caught the deadly disease.

Samples of the girl's lower respiratory tract tested positive for the H5 avian flu sub-type by the Sichuan provincial centre for disease control and prevention (CDC).

China's national CDC confirmed Thursday the test result to be H5N1 strain of bird flu.

The patient has been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Chinese official standards, said the ministry.

Governments and health departments at all levels in Sichuan province took immediate prevention and control measures after the human bird flu case was confirmed.

People who were in close contact with the patient were put under medical observation by local health authorities. None of them had so far shown any abnormal symptoms.

The new case brought the total number of human cases of bird flu in China to 18, 12 of whom have died.

--Edited IANS