Beijing, Jan 19: Chinese health authorities said on Monday a 16-year-old boy in central Hunan province is badly ill after contracting the H5N1 bird flu virus, the third case reported in as many days as the Lunar New Year holiday looms.
The Ministry of Health said on its website the teenager entered a hospital in Hunan on January 16 and the province disease control centre confirmed he was infected with the H5N1 virus.
"The patient's condition is critical," the statement said. It added that he previously had "contact with dead poultry."
China has warned of the risk of further human cases of bird flu in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday after reporting two new cases over the weekend.
Until this month, China had not seen a single human infection in almost a year, but it has now confirmed four cases of the H5N1 virus in less than two weeks.
Two have died, one a 27-year-old woman who died in eastern China on Saturday, and the other a 19-year-old woman who died in Beijing earlier this month.
"As the Spring Festival approaches, there are frequent movements of poultry products and the risk rises of virus outbreaks and transmission," the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on its website.
The Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year holiday, starts next Monday, accompanied by a mass movement of people back to their home provinces for lavish celebratory meals.
Hong Kong's top health official, York Chow, called on China to release the results of epidemiological tests into the three cases.
"There are two main areas that we are concerned with. One is if there is no avian flu outbreak in poultry and yet there are human cases, whether there's a change in the virus," said Chow, Hong Kong's secretary for food and health.
He also voiced concern over the possibility of "silently infected chickens" carrying the virus or transmitting the disease without showing outward bird flu-like symptoms.
The World Health Organisation said people must be aware of how to protect themselves from bird flu.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, January 19, 2009, 00:00