AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN - CHINA (02): SHANXI ex HUNAN

AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN - CHINA (02): SHANXI ex HUNAN
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Sun 18 Jan 2009
Source: China Daily, originated Xinhua News Agency [edited]
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-01/18/content_7406835.htm>


A 2-year-old girl has been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in
north China's Shanxi Province, a provincial government official said
Saturday [17 Jan 2009].

The girl was found ill on [7 Jan 2009] in the central Hunan Province.
Her grandparents took her to Luliang City of Shanxi on [11 Jan 2009].
She was taken to the Fenyang Hospital on Wednesday [14 Jan 2009] and
then to the Shanxi Children's Hospital on Wednesday [14 Jan 2009]
night after she got worse, said an official with the Shanxi
provincial health department.

The patient was in critical condition, the official said.

According to the test results of the Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, the girl tested positive for the H5N1 strain
of avian influenza.

Health authorities earlier this month [January 2009] said a woman
infected with bird flu had died in Beijing after buying ducks at a
market in Hebei province, which surrounds the Chinese capital,
sparking emergency checks of local poultry markets.

Experts said the case was not unexpected as the virus is more active
during the cooler months between October and March.

China's Agriculture Ministry last week said it had found no bird flu 
cases among poultry in Beijing or other areas surrounding the city 
during checks after the woman's death.

Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003, it has infected 391
people, killing 247 of them, according to WHO figures released in
mid-December [2008].

The toddler's infection brings China's total to 32 human bird flu
cases, of which at least 21 people have died.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-MBDS <promed-mbds@promedmail.org>

[The 2-year-old girl from Shanxi Province is the 2nd case of avian
influenza infection reported in China during 2009. The 1st case of
H5N1 infection was a 19-year-old female from Chaoyang District,
Beijing who developed H5N1 symptoms on 24 Dec 2008 and died on 5 Jan
2009