China confirms bird flu case in Guangdong

BEIJING, June 15 (Reuters) China's ministry of health today confirmed a man in the southern province of Guangdong has contracted bird flu, bringing the country's total number of human infections to 19.

The 31-year-old man, surnamed Jiang, is a migrant worker in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. He showed symptoms of fever and pneumonia on June 3.

''He is presently in hospital receiving treatment and his condition is serious,'' the ministry said in a brief statement on its Web site (www.moh.gov.cn).

Jiang has been confirmed to be infected with bird flu in accordance with the standards of the World Health Organisation and the Chinese government, said the ministry.

The WHO considers the result valid as China's National Influenza Centre has a laboratory with capacity to do accurate testing for H5N1, WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng said in Geneva.

A Hong Kong government spokeswoman said live chicken imports from mainland China would be suspended for three weeks starting from Friday because of the case.

Xinhua news agency said Jiang, a truck driver, had had no contact with birds before becoming ill. However, his wife bought a freshly slaughtered chicken from a local market two weeks ago, and cooked it for dinner for five family members, including Jiang.

''For us it is still unclear what kind of exposure he may have had,'' Cheng said.

''There have not been outbreaks of H5N1 reported in the province among chickens so there is an obvious gap in (disease) surveillance,'' she added.

The provincial and city governments have put all the people he has had close contact with under medical observation, but none have shown an sign of illness, the ministry said.

China has reported about 40 outbreaks of bird flu in birds across a dozen provinces over the past year, and 12 people are known to have died from the virus and six have survived.

REUTERS SY BD2348