Bird Flu Claims 2nd Life in China; Asia Toll at 67

By Audra Ang THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING — China on Wednesday reported its second confirmed death from a strain of bird flu that has claimed more than 60 lives in Asia.

State media, meanwhile, reported that a bird flu vaccine being developed in China would be tested on 100 people. It’s already been tried on minks, chickens and rats.

A 35-year-old farmer died Tuesday after developing a fever and pneumonia-like symptoms following contact with sick and dead poultry, the Health Ministry said.

Tests concluded the woman was positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus, the Xinhua News Agency said.

The woman lived in Anhui, where China’s first confirmed bird flu death occurred.

Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the U.N. World Health Organization in Geneva, said the death did not change the global health body’s risk assessment in China.

“As long as the virus is circulating in animals, there will also be sporadic human cases,” he said. “But human cases of bird flu are really extremely rare events.”

According to WHO, at least 67 people have died of the H5N1 strain since late 2003 in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and China.

Another WHO official said Wednesday that blood tests on a 36- year old schoolteacher, whom the Chinese government says fell ill after handling raw chicken, show he doesn’t have the H5N1 strain.

Dr. Julie Hall, an infectious disease specialist, said increased public awareness is key to fighting poultry and human outbreaks.