The second human case of H5N1 bird flu on the mainland this year has been confirmed in Fujian , Hong Kong health authorities said yesterday.
The Department of Health's Centre for Health Protection said the mainland's Ministry of Health yesterday told it the patient was a 44-year-old female farmer.
A centre spokesman said the woman developed fever and a cough on February 18. He said laboratory tests by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention revealed she had H5N1 and was receiving hospital treatment.
On January 10, state media reported that a 37-year-old farmer, surnamed Li, in Youxi village, Tunguang town, Anhui province , had tested positive for H5N1.
There have been 23 confirmed human cases of H5N1 on the mainland to date, of which 14 have proved fatal. Twenty-one of the previous 22 cases were not preceded by a poultry outbreak, according to the World Health Organisation.
