14 DAY TRIAL // China announced Saturday that tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus in a woman who died in Shanghai, while Indonesian officials wait for tests results from a dead 1-year-old girl in Jakarta.
The woman who died in Shanghai is China's 11th human death and the first in the country's biggest city, Shanghai, according to the World Health Organization.
Only identified by the surname Li, the woman died on Tuesday after being admitted in the hospital, suffering from fever and cold symptoms. Authorities who announced the results of the tests did not mention, however, how the woman contracted the disease. People who had close contact with Li show no suspicious symptoms of the disease and are currently placed under observation.
Preliminary tests on the Indonesian girl show that she carried the H5N1 strain; blood samples have been sent to the WHO laboratory in Hong Kong. Apparently, she got sick after coming into contact with dead birds. If the infection will be confirmed, this death will be Indonesia's 23rd from bird flu.
Three Cambodians with flu-like symptoms, two children and an adult are being tested for the virus, after a 3-year-old girl died last week of bird flu. According to a statement of Cambodian and WHO officials, the 3 came into contact with birds which have died in the Kampong Speu province. The girl's case raises the number of deaths caused by bird flu in Cambodia to 5, since the first outbreak in 2003.
WHO reported, since 2003, 186 people worldwide infected with H5N1, among who 105 have died.