China reports fifth bird flu death
Beijing - China announced its fifth death from H7N9 avian influenza Thursday, as the Xinhua news agency reported that the virus had been detected in pigeon samples collected from a marketplace in Shanghai.
It quoted the Ministy of Agriculture as saying that gene sequence analysis had established that the strain found in pigeons was "highly congenetic" with those found on people infected with the virus.
Among the two people who died on Thursday was a 48-year-old man who worked in poultry transportation in the eastern province of Jiangsu, state broadcaster China Central Television quoted health officials as saying.
The second victim was a 64-year-old man from Huzhou city in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang was under treatment for H7N9 after becoming ill on March 29, other state media said.
The two cases took the total reported H7N9 infections to 11 in China, which is the first country to report human infections with the virus.
Health officials warned the public not to slaughter chickens for the traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day, which fell on Thursday, when Chinese people make offerings to their ancestors.
Poultry farmers and traders, butchers and meat processors were among the groups most at risk of infection, the officials said.
Health authorities nationwide have also ordered medical staff to strengthen monitoring and prepare isolation units for possible new infections with H7N9 avian influenza.
Concern over possible underreporting of infections was raised after two sons of an 87-year-old Shanghai man who died of H7N9 were both treated for severe pneumonia, from which one of them died.//DPA