Health News
Chinese woman dies of bird flu
Jan 7, 2009, 1:56 GMT
Beijing - A young woman died of an infection with the H5N1 bird flu virus, the first death from avian influenza in almost one year, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.
A 19-year-old woman, identified as Huang Yanqing died on Monday in Beijing, making it the first death from bird flu in the Chinese capital since 2003, the official Xinhua news agency reported, quoting municipal health officers.
Huang was believed to have bought nine ducks at a market in neighbouring Heibei province and slaughtered them. About 13 people had eaten from the birds, but the woman was the only one who fell ill.
Officials of the 17-million-inhabitant city held an emergency meeting on Monday evening, also informing their counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao, Xinhua said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was informed by China's Ministry of Health, and expected to be kept updated.
'We are concerned by any case of human H5N1 infection, however, this single case, which appears to have occurred during the slaughtering and preparation of poultry, does not change our risk assessment,' the WHO said in a statement.
Since 2003, 31 of the 392 world-wide cases of human H5N1 infection and 21 of the 248 resulting deaths occurred in China, the WHO said. In 2008 there had been three identified cases and three deaths.
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