A farmer in China who contracted the deadly H5N1 stain of bird flu last month is cured, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday.

The man, called Li, from Anhui Province, aged 37, developed symptoms of fever and pneumonia on December 10.

His serum and sputum were tested for bird flu in hospital, but the first tests proved negative.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Monday that further tests carried out at the end of last month and early January tested positive for the H5N1 strain, the ministry said yesterday.

It is the first human bird flu case reported on the Chinese mainland in more than six months. Li was discharged from hospital last Saturday after making a full recovery, the ministry said.

The World Health Organization said the ministry informed it soon after the case was confirmed.

"The Chinese Ministry of Health's handling of the Anhui case has been thorough, rigorous and timely," said Joanna Brent, a WHO spokeswoman in Beijing.

She said the ministry carried out routine testing at both provincial and central levels, and ordered a second batch of tests despite the first ones being negative.

"WHO understands that the ministry placed people who had been in close contact with the patient under medical supervision prior to the case being confirmed," she said.

Health authorities said those who had close contact showed no signs of disease, and have been released from medical observation. Like most human H5N1 cases in China, the Anhui case was not preceded by a poultry outbreak. It is still unclear how the farmer contracted the virus.

Brent said the monitoring for H5N1 in poultry needs strengthening. "An exclusive focus on outbreaks is no longer sufficient."

The virus has killed 14 people in China since 2003, and 21 Chinese had contracted the virus before the new case. The WHO spokeswoman said one case in six months is no cause for alarm. "However, it is possible there will be further cases since the virus has been seasonal in the past. But there is nothing to suggest an increased threat to humans."

The ministry also warned that China has entered its annual peak period of flu outbreaks, but that chances of a large-scale outbreak are low. In Shanghai, the Health Bureau said yesterday that the city has not seen an outbreak of respiratory epidemics, including flu, since November 15.

The bureau reminded residents to be vigilant and keep warm in winter and spring, the flu seasons.