A 16-year-old student is the third person to die from bird flu in a month has been reported in China. From Reuters:
A health official on Tuesday also confirmed the mother of a toddler infected with the avian virus from the same province had died of pneumonia weeks before, as millions of Chinese flock to poultry markets to buy food ahead of the lunar New Year holiday.
The student died in hospital in Huaihua, in central Hunan province, after developing a fever in neighbouring Guizhou province.
“(Investigations) found the patient had come in contact with birds that had died from sickness before he fell ill,” Xinhua news agency quoted a notice from the Hunan Health Bureau as saying.
After not recording a case in almost a year, four human infections have been reported in China in the last two weeks. Three have died, and one remains in hospital.