|
HONG KONG - A 22-YEAR-OLD man in central China has died of bird flu, Hong Kong's health department said late on Monday, citing a notification from the Chinese health ministry.
The man from Hunan province developed a headache and fever on January 16 and was admitted to hospital, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection said.
The man died on January 24.
Chinese laboratory tests on samples from the patient on Sunday proved positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the centre said.
China's health ministry notified Hong Kong of the case on Monday, it said, adding that it was seeking further information on the case.
With the latest fatality, at least 18 people have died of bird flu in China. Ten other patients recovered.
China's last fatal case was a 24-year-old man in the eastern province of Jiangsu who died in December.
While the disease is usually associated with contact with infected birds, China has a widespread poultry vaccination programme and only one confirmed human bird flu case has followed a matching outbreak in poultry.
H5N1 has killed more than 200 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organisation.
Scientists fear the virus will eventually mutate into a form that is much more easily transmissible between humans, triggering a global pandemic. -- AFP
|
