A fourth human case of bird flu infection has been confirmed by the Ministry of Health of China in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s Ziyuan County. The Ministry revealed that the patient is a 10-year-old girl student surnamed Tang, who has been ill with fever and pneumonia since 23 November 2005.
The girl has tested positive for the H5N1 virus by the China Disease Prevention and Control Center, and she is under emergency treatment in a hospital.Tang is confirmed to be infected with bird flu as per the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese Government.
People who had a close contact with the patient have also been placed under medical observation.
The Regional Health Department and Ministry of Health have sent expert teams to direct and coordinate disease prevention and control in the area. Currently, experts are making further investigations with regard to the source of the bird flu virus, since no bird flu cases have been reported in the county before.
--IANS
