China Reports New Bird Flu Case
By VOA News
19 January 2009
Chinese authorities say a teenager has been diagnosed with bird flu and is in critical condition -- the country's second reported case just days after a woman died from the disease.
A statement posted on the Ministry of Health's Web site says the 16-year-old boy from the southwestern province of Guizhou fell ill January 8.
A little more than a week later he was transferred to a city in neighboring Hunan province when his condition worsened.
The news comes just two days after a 27-year-old woman died of bird flu in eastern China, marking the nation's second death from the disease this month.
The official Xinhua news agency says the National Disease Center confirmed she had the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
In addition to that case, China's health ministry says a two-year-old girl is critically ill after testing positive for the H5N1 strain. Officials say the girl was taken to a hospital in her home province of Shanxi after falling ill January 7 in central Hunan province.
Earlier this month, a 19-year-old woman died of bird flu in Beijing after handling ducks she bought at a market.
Chinese authorities have stepped up their monitoring of the sale of live poultry in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins next Monday.
The government has warned that the approach of the holiday -- and an increase in the sale and movement of poultry -- brings a higher risk of the emergence of an epidemic.
The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 248 people since it resurfaced in Asia in 2003, including 21 in China. The death of the 27-year-old woman on Saturday raises China's toll to 22.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters
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