Saturday, January 31, 2009

N China province ends emergency response to human bird flu

TAIYUAN, Jan. 25 (Chinese media) -- North China's Shanxi

Province on Sunday ended the emergency response to human bird flu, a week after

a two-year-old girl was confirmed to be infected with the virus.

All the 67 people who had close contact with the girl

surnamed Peng have been discharged from medical observation as of Saturday

night. No one was found to be infected, said a senior official of the provincial

health department.

Peng was out of danger Friday after her vital signs

remained stable for six consecutive days.

Peng fell ill on Jan. 7 in central Hunan Province.

She was taken to Shanxi by her grandparents on Jan. 11 and was confirmed to be

infected with avian influenza on Jan. 17.

Accordingly, Shanxi launched the emergency response.

There has been no report of human or animal infections of bird flu since then.

China has reported four human deaths from bird flu so

far this year. The first death was a 19-year-old woman in Beijing on Jan. 5,

followed by a 27-year-old woman in Shandong on Jan. 17, a 16-year-old boy in

Hunan on Jan. 20, and a 31-year-old woman in Xinjiang on Jan. 23.

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