29.12.2005

A 41-year-old woman (Zhou) from China's southeast has become the country's third confirmed human fatality from the virulent H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the government said Thursday. The woman, a factory worker in Sanming, a city in coastal Fujian province, fell ill on Dec. 6 and died on Dec. 21. On 13 December, initial laboratory tests on samples from the patient tested negative for H5N1. But further tests on 23 December - including PCR tests carried out at the Chinese Center for Disease Control in Beijing - showed positive results. The virus was also isolated from the patient. Fujian has not reported any outbreaks among birds.