Second Person In China Dies From H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus

A second person in China who contracted the bird flu virus died on Sunday, reported the official Xinhua news agency.

AsianScientist (Jan. 23, 2012) – A second person in China who contracted the bird flu virus died on Sunday, reported the official Xinhua news agency. The victim fell ill on January 6 and was admitted to hospital in Guizhou province on Thursday, where he tested positive for the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

He is the second man to die from bird flu in China in less than a month, after a bus driver from Shenzhen, Guangdong province passed away from the disease on December 31.

Bird flu deaths in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia

In Vietnam, an 18 year-old male from Kien Giang province died on January 16 after exposure to ducks. Laboratory tests at Vietnam’s Pasteur Institute have confirmed infection with H5N1, reported the World Health Organization (WHO) National Influenza Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

On Thursday last week, the Ministry of Health of Indonesia announced that a five-year-old female from Jakarta died on January 16 from the avian flu virus after reporting frequent direct contact with pigeons.

Two days later on January 18, a Cambodian boy who tested positive for H5N1 died following complications from the virus, said the Ministry of Health.

Of the 582 cases confirmed human cases for H5N1 reported to the WHO from 2003-2012, 343 have been fatal.

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Source: World Health Organization.
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