China confirms new bird flu case

A new human H7N9 avian flu case has been reported in China's southwestern Guizhou Province, local officials said today.
According to the provincial health and family planing commission, the 79-year-old patient is from Kaili City in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
The patient went to the fever clinic of the people's hospital in the prefecture and tested positive for the virus yesterday.
It is the third human H7N9 case reported in the province this winter.
The patient is receiving treatment. People who had close contact with the patient were put under medical observation and have not tested positive for the virus yet, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

H7N9, a bird flu strain most likely to strike in winter and spring, was first reported in humans in China in March 2013.

Yesterday, a 36-year-old roast-duck vendor from Henan Province died after contracting the flu.
More than 10 cases have been reported since January 1, in Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong, Guizhou, Shanghai and Macao.
Experts with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that China had entered high season for infection of the H7N9 virus, and the possibility of more reported cases in southern China was not being ruled out, the report said.
The public should avoid contact with dead poultry, live poultry, birds and their waste, and purchase only certified poultry products, they advised.