Bird Flu Claims One More Life in China

A 44-year-old woman in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu on Monday, according to a statement on the website of the Health Department for Guangdong province. This is the fourth human death from the virus in China since late last year.

The woman who is identified only by her surname Zhang was a migrant worker, working in Haifeng County in the eastern part of Guangdong, where it is believed she had contact with dead poultry. She died after developing fever and a cough.

The woman tested positive for H5N1 in a test conducted by Guangdong's Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which has asked the Health Ministry to confirm the result.

According to the Guangdong statement, Zhang developed symptoms of fever, cough and pneumonia on February 16, but was only admitted to the county hospital on February 22, after first seeking treatment at a local clinic.

There have already been two reported H5N1 deaths in China this year. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), China has had 19 human bird flu deaths since 2003 when the virus began ravaging poultry stocks in Asia.

The flurry of cases is a concern for a country that has the world's biggest poultry population, many of them backyard birds roaming free. China has struggled to combat the virus with mass inoculations for birds and an education campaign for those who handle them.

Experts have already expressed fears that the virus could mutate into a form easily transmitted among humans, potentially leading to an epidemic. As of now, most of the human cases have been traced to contact with infected birds.

According to WHO data, there have been 232 human deaths globally from the H5N1 strain and 366 confirmed cases of infection since 2003.