Trip for cheaper poultry ends in bird flu tragedy and a deep debt for medical costs

Nineteen-year-old Beijing-based migrant worker Huang Yanqing would not have travelled to Yanjiao, Hebei province , to buy ducks if the difference in price had not been so important to her.

And if she had not travelled, Huang would probably have avoided being infected by the deadly bird flu virus.

'For our migrant workers, every penny counts. I don't think people living well in the city understand how we struggle to make a living,' said Huang Yagou , her uncle.

On December 19, Huang Yanqing returned home with nine ducks for probably half of what they would have cost in Beijing, and three were served up to the nine family members living in the three-room home. Six others were saved for a New Year's Day feast, her uncle said.

But the young woman came down with a fever the next day and a cough four days later, and was sent to hospital on December 27.

The hospital did not explain Huang's condition, except to say that she had a lung problem.

None of Huang's eight relatives who ate the ducks the same day showed any symptoms, so when they were told that the young woman was in serious condition and had to be sent to the expensive Beijing Chest Hospital, the whole family was shocked.