Woman, 41, is China's latest bird flu fatality
China today reported that a 41-year-old woman has become the country’s newest human fatality from the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu.
The woman, who died on December 21, was a factory worker in the south-eastern city of Sanming in Fujian province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Health Ministry.
The report identified her only by the surname Zhou and didn’t say how she was believed to have caught the virus.
China suffered two earlier confirmed human fatalities from bird flu and a suspected case in a 12-year-old girl who died.
The country has reported dozens of outbreaks in chickens, ducks and other poultry since October.
Authorities have destroyed millions of birds to contain outbreaks and are in the midst of a campaign to inoculate all of China’s 5.2 billion poultry.
