Bird flu comes round again as another dies in China

Chinese health officials have reported that a man in southern China has died from bird flu.

His death from the virus brings the toll in China to 9 and the number of confirmed cases to 15.

The 32-year-old man was unemployed and lived in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.

The officials report that two people are still being treated for the virus but four others have been discharged from hospital.

The latest victim appears to have become ill following several visits to an agricultural market where he was apparently in close proximity to a live poultry slaughtering site for some considerable time.

Those who had close contact with the man have been put under medical observation by health authorities.

To date bird flu has killed at least 94 people in East Asia and the Middle East since late 2003 and infected a total of 174.

It remains a predominantly bird disease and people only contract it by being in close contact with sick or dead birds.

The ongoing fear on the part of experts is that the virus could mutate to spread from person to person, triggering a global pandemic.

China has reported more than 30 outbreaks of the H5N1 strain in birds across the country in the past year but none were reported in Guangdong.

However outbreaks in neighbouring Hong Kong have added to suspicions that authorities in Guangdong province had not been transparent about incidents of bird flu.

This latest confirmation of the H5N1 case from China has prompted Hong Kong to immediately suspend imports of all live poultry from Guangdong for three weeks.

The ban also includes new born chicks and pet birds.

The Health ministry has informed the WHO of the case and authorities in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan have been alerted.

Meanwhile, a Chinese insurance company has paid 100,000 yuan (U.S.$12,500) to the family of a bird flu victim, the first compensation case related to the bird flu epidemic in the country.