(AFP)
Updated: 2006-01-25 21:01

China has announced that a 29-year-old woman has died from bird flu, bringing the number of human fatalities in the country to seven.

Chickens roam free through China's Anhui province in November 2005. China has announced that a 29-year-old woman has died from bird flu, bringing the number of human fatalities in the country to seven. [AFP]

The health ministry, quoted by the Xinhua news agency, said the woman died recently but did not give a date.

The woman, surnamed Cao and a market worker in Jinhua town in Chengdu city, had been hospitalised in Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

On January 12 she showed fever and pneumonia symptoms and her samples tested positive for the deadly H5N1 of the virus, the agency said Wednesday.

The health ministry on Monday said Cao was in critical condition and confirmed she was the country's 10th human bird flu case.

Xinhua said the ministry was investigating the source of her infection and was trying to find out whether there have been bird flu outbreaks among poultry in her town.

Cao's death was the second bird flu death in Sichuan province, with the earlier victim -- a woman aged 35 -- living in the city of Jianyang. That death was reported on January 18.

Other fatalities have been reported in the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangxi.

China has reported more than 30 outbreaks of the virus among birds since the beginning of last year, with most appearing since October.