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Suspected bird flu patient in Beijing dies

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-06 16:49

BEIJING -- A suspected bird flu patient in Beijing has died, local health bureau said Tuesday.

A chicken walks across a road in the farming village of Zhongjulou in eastern China. A woman in the Chinese capital has died of suspected bird flu, Xinhua cited local health authorities as saying. [Agencies]

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The woman named Huang Yanqing died at 7:20 am Monday. Her age is not known yet.

Huang, a native of east China's Fujian Province, bought nine ducks at a market in Beijing's neighboring Hebei Province on December 19 along with two town fellows. She cleaned the ducks' internal organs, according to the Beijing Health Bureau.

The bureau said 116 people had been in close contact with the patient. One nurse who had been in contact with the patient suffered from fever. The nurse has recovered.

Beijing has reported the case to the World Health Organization, and health authorities of China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.

An emergency meeting was convened in Beijing on Monday evening to handle the bird flu case.