Chinese Dies of Bird Flu

Chinese Dies of Bird Flu

A 39-year-old bus driver living in Shenzhen in the southern China's Guangdong province died of bird flu Saturday a week after being admitted to hospital with a fever. He developed symptoms on December 21 and was admitted to a hospital on December 25 because of severe pneumonia.

Although he had no direct contact with poultry in the month prior to getting sick and had not left the city, he died in the early afternoon of multiple organ failure, having tested positive for the H5N1 virus, the report added. 120 people are known who had contact with the man had developed no signs of sickness.

Hong Kong gathered 17,000 chickens, about 10 days ago at a wholesale poultry market and suspended all imports of live chickens from mainland China for 21 days after a dead chicken found positive for the H5N1 virus.

The virus is normally found in birds but can jump to people who do not have immunity to it.

Authorities in China are worried about the spread of infectious diseases when millions of Chinese travel in crowded buses and trains across the country to go home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, on January 23.

Since 2003, it has infected 573 people around the world, killing 336.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday January 02 2012, 7:03 AM EDT. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0