December 30, 2005

Chinese woman in Fujian province dies of bird flu

A 41-year-old woman in Sanming city of China's Fujian province died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu recently, the health ministry said.

The factory worker was only identified by her surname Zhou, and no mention was made about how she was infected by the virus. No bird flu outbreaks among poultry were reported in the area, according to the ministry.

She was admitted to the hospital on Dec 8 after showing pneumonia symptoms, and died on Dec 21.

People who were in close contact with her were put under medical observation but none have shown symptoms of the disease.

This latest case marked the seventh human infection and third human death due to bird flu in China.