China's fifth case of suspected bird flu has been confirmed in Liaoning Province, officials said yesterday.
Of five total cases of confirmed bird flu in humans, one person has died. Human to human transmission has not taken place, doctors said.
The latest case was first taken as "pneumonia" and later diagnosed to be bird flu, H5N1, in Liaoning Province's Heishan County, according to a report from the Ministry of Health yesterday.
The 31-year-old patient surnamed Liu exhibited fever and other pneumonia symptoms on October 30. The illness got worse when she stayed for treatment in a local hospital. She was moved to the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital. Doctors said she recovered on November 29.
The woman had contact with dead poultry before her illness and her residential area was designated a bird flu area.
There is no evidence that those who were in close contact with Liu were infected. China has reported the case to the World Health Organization, China's Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as some foreign nations.
Also yesterday, quarantine has ended in two bird flu-hit areas in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China after a 21-day isolation and monitoring, local authorities said.
Quite a few local farmers went to the market to sell their poultry. "I have 1,000 chickens for sale," said Zhu Shengyou, a farmer in the Hexi Village of Anningqu Township in Xinjiang.
The H5N1 bird flu outbreak in Anningqu Township was confirmed by the national bird flu lab on November 14. All birds and poultry were immediately killed within a three-kilometer radius of the spots and the local live poultry markets were shut down.
Zheng Ming, whose poultry were found to be infected with bird flu on November 11, said that his life is going back to normal with the lifting of bird flu quarantine.
"I want to apply for a loan and raise some sheep and ox," he said.
"The farmers will get compensation for poultry culling before the end of this month," said Li Zhanqing, an official with the Urumqi Municipal Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau.
Meanwhile, the Xingqing District of Yinchuan City in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region also lifted the 21-day quarantine yesterday.
"I've been hungering for a hen for nourishment," said a woman named Chen, who just gave birth to a baby a week ago. Local market is also reviving.
"I'm now preparing for the supply of chicken and duck meat," said a shop owner surnamed Wang at the market in the Hubin street of Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia.
(Xinhua)