Woman With Bird Flu Dies In Beijing Hospital

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Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 07 Jan 2009 - 10:00 PDT

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Chinese health authorities confirmed on Tuesday that a 19-year old woman from east China who lived in Beijing and who was infected with bird flu died in a Beijing hospital at 7.20 am on Monday. The woman, named Huang Yanqing, was the first bird flu case reported in China's capital city since 2003, according to a statement released by the municipal health bureau and reported by Xinhua, the Chinese state council's news agency.

Huang became ill on 24th December, her condition got worse and she went into hospital two days later. The authorities discovered that she and two others had bought nine ducks at a market in Langfang City in the neighbouring province of Hebei five days before she fell ill. Officials from the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said she handled the ducks' internal organs when she cleaned them.

Huang kept six of the ducks and gave the others to her father, her uncle and a friend.

Samples were tested by the Beijing Municipal Center for Diseases Control and Preventive Medical Research and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. Both tests confirmed the H5N1 bird flu strain that is deadly to humans, and the Ministry of Health said Huang was infected with the virus.

The authorities said they had carried out an investigation that traced 13 people, including Huang, who ate the duck that she prepared, but she was the only one to fall ill. They have traced the duck involved to Jixian County in north China's Tianjin Municipality and "thoroughly combed all stands in the market" where they were sold.

No other cases of bird flu have been found in Langfang City, said officials at China's Ministry of Agriculture, whose experts, together with scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Beijing Municipal Center for Diseases Control and Preventive Medical Research, have arrived in the city to investigate the case.

According to Xinhua news agency, the market was still open for business, and still selling ducks, at 7 pm yesterday.

Authorities in Beijing have instigated bird flu control measures which include disinfecting and isolating the house where Huang lived and the wards she had stayed in while in hospital. They are also closely monitoring all hospitals and clinics for any signs of bird flu.

Worldwide, 247 people have died of H5N1 bird flu. The World Health Organization said in a statement reported by the BBC that while it was concerned about the case of Huang, it was still a single case and did not change its risk assessment.

According to the BBC, China has the world's biggest poultry population, and any mass outbreak of bird flu would have serious consequences for China and her neighbours.

Last month a baby girl was reported to be receiving treatment in a Hong Kong hospital for H9N2, a milder strain of bird flu that can also be caught from infected live and dead poultry.

Sources: Xinhua, BBC News.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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