# 2699
China has detected yet another human H5N1 infection, this time from Guizhou Province. This make six confirmed cases - plus one highly suspected case that died but was never tested - thus far in 2009.
This report from Xinhua News.
SW province reports China's sixth human bird flu case in 2009
www.chinaview.cn
2009-01-25 16:57:50
GUIYANG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A 29-year-old man had been confirmed as infected with bird flu in southwest China's Guizhou Province, the sixth case of human bird flu found in China this year, local authorities said Sunday.
The man, surnamed Zhou, fell ill on Jan. 15 in Guiyang City, the provincial capital. He was then sent to Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital, said a provincial health department official.
The man is still in a critical condition, the official said.
Zhou tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to the test result on Sunday from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Guizhou has launched an emergency response against the virus. Those who had close contact with the patient are under medical observation. No one has been found ill so far.
China's Ministry of Health has reported the case to the World Health Organization and informed the health authorities of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.
The updated map (below) shows that the 6 known victims have come from five different provinces, widely scattered across China.
This suggests that the virus is wide spread across China, even though we've not received word of outbreaks in poultry in these regions.
The good news is, with the exception of the mother (unconfirmed)- daughter case in Hunan Province, none of these cases appear related.
In at least one case this month (27 y.o. from Shandong), we're told that the victim had no direct contact with poultry, which is considered to be the most common route of infection.
The other cases have been linked, at least tenuously, to contact with birds.
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