Man dies from bird flu in China

HONG KONG -- A man in southern China died of bird flu Saturday, the state news media reported, in the country's first reported human death attributed to the virus in 18 months.

The death came about a week after two dead birds tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus in nearby Hong Kong, causing the government to cull thousands of birds.

Saturday's victim, a 39-year-old bus driver, died from multiple organ failure at a hospital in the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, according to the Xinhua News Agency, citing the local health department. The department said that the man began developing symptoms Dec. 21 and was hospitalized last Sunday with pneumonia; he subsequently tested positive for the virus.

Reuters, citing the newspaper the Southern Daily, reported that 120 people who had had contact with the man had developed no signs of sickness. In the month before developing symptoms, the man appeared to have had no direct contact with poultry and had not traveled outside Shenzhen, a city of more than 10 million north of Hong Kong.

The H5N1 virus passes easily among birds and becomes more active during cooler periods of the year. It rarely infects humans, but when it does, the virus has a 60 percent mortality rate, scientists say. Hong Kong experienced the world's first major outbreak of avian flu among humans in 1997, when six people died.

The World Health Organization says 573 people have been infected worldwide

with H5N1 since 2003, and 336 have died.

Dec. 21, Hong Kong health workers slaughtered more than 17,000 chickens after a carcass infected with bird flu was found at a poultry market. The government also imposed a 21-day ban on the sale and import of live poultry. About a week ago, a second dead bird in Hong Kong was determined to have been infected with H5N1.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_19653163?source=rss

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