H7N9 kills 2 more, causing new infections in China

CHANGSHA - A 59-year-old man having close contact with live poultry died on Monday morning of the H7N9 flu virus, the first of its kind in central China's Hunan province, local authority said.

A separate statement issued by the health department of Guangdong province on Monday said a patient surnamed Xie died of the virus on Sunday in Foshan after treatment failed.

With the new cases, H7N9 has so far killed 25 people in China since January, and the number of human infections has been 113, with Zhejiang and Guangdong being mostly affected.

Hunan's health department said the man killed by the virus, surnamed Li, was a resident with the Longxing District of Louding City. He was among the province's four human infection cases confirmed this year.

Since China ushered in the Spring Festival holiday on Friday, four people have been killed by the virus till Monday, according to local health authorities.

The other two deaths were both in Guangdong, involving a 63-year-old in Shenzhen and an 82-year-old man in Foshan.

There have been 11 human infection cases reported during the holiday, including two deaths mentioned above.

Among the other nine new infections, one was reported to be in a critical situation in Zhangzhou of east China's Fujian Province.

The 27-year-old man surnamed Zhang is a sculptor. He began suffering paroxysmal coughing on January 21 while staying in Hangzhou, capital of the most affected province of Zhejiang, before returning to his hometown of Zhangpu County in Zhangzhou on January 26.

He also had been in close contact with live poultry as he was shopping daily at a farmer's market in Hangzhou in January, local sources said on Monday.

The two human infection cases announced late Monday by Guangdong health department involved a two-year-old girl in Zhongshan City and a 76-year-old in Huizhou City. Both have been hospitalized and in a stable condition.

South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region confirmed its first case of human infection on Sunday, involving a 75-year-old man from the city of Liuzhou.

As bird flu cases are increasing on a daily basis, public concern over people-to-people transmission of the disease during Spring Festival is growing, but health experts said inter-human transmission was unlikely.