Chinese woman dies of bird flu
China disinfects after first bird flu death in a year. A Vietnamese girl is in hospital with a bird flu infection and poultry business in West Begal is hit hard by bird flu.
Chinese health authorities closed poultry markets for disinfecting in a province surrounding Beijing on Wednesday after a woman died of bird flu, the first such death in the country in almost a year.
The 19-year-old woman died of the H5N1 bird flu virus after coming into contact with poultry in Hebei province, bringing the total death toll in China to date to 21.
In parts of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing and where the dead woman had bought ducks, poultry markets were closed and the sale of live birds stopped as workers in masks sprayed disinfectant.
The last human H5N1 death in China was in February last year when a 44-year-old woman died in the southern province of Guangdong.
Girl hospitalised in Vetnam
A eight year old Vietnamese girl who ate poultry has been infected with H5N1 bird flu virus, the first human case reported in the country this year, state-run television said.
The patient from the northern province of Thanh Hoa has been hospitalised after eating poultry, and dead poultry was also found in her neighbourhood, the Vietnam Television station said.
Thanh Hoa is the second province in two weeks to report an outbreak of the bird-borne illness among poultry, the other being Thai Nguyen, directly north of the capital.
Bird flu hits poultry business in West Bengal
The spread of deadly H5N1 avian influenza across the state of West Bengal in India has led to mass culling of birds. The sale and movement of poultry has been prohibited.
Poultry farm owners said that they would be completely ruined if it continues for a long time.
Meanwhile, Health and veterinary workers continued culling of poultry birds.
Officials have been culling birds since Saturday when a fresh outbreak of bird flu was reported in the region bordering Bangladesh.
Bird flu first broke out in India in 2006 and millions of chicken and ducks had been culled to contain the virus.
Although it has resurfaced from time to time, there have been no reports of any human infections in India.
Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003, it has infected 391 people, killing 247 of them, according to World Health Organisation figures released in mid-December.
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