16-year-old loses fight with infection

A 16-year-old student died of bird flu in Hunan province yesterday morning, the third fatality in China this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The boy, surnamed Wu, was a native of Guizhou province. After developing a fever at home on Jan 8, he was admitted to hospital in Huaihua, Hunan, on Friday, but doctors were unable to save him, the report said.

"The epidemiological investigation found that before falling ill, the boy had been in contact with poultry that had died of the sickness," Xinhua quoted a notice from the Hunan health bureau as saying.