Special report: Global fight against bird flu

    NANJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- A man in east China's Jiangsu Province died of bird flu on Sunday, the provincial health department reported.

    The 24-year-old, surnamed Lu, developed fever, chills and other symptoms on Nov. 24. He was hospitalized on Nov. 27 after being diagnosed with "lower left lobe pneumonia" and his condition further deteriorated.

    He was the 17th Chinese to die of avian flu since 2003.

    A respiratory tract sample from the man that was examined by Jiangsu Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center on Saturday was H5N1 positive. The term referred to the virus's genetic make-up.

    Before he developed symptoms, Lu had been staying at home preparing for an exam and eating home-cooked food, according to local sources. He also had no contact with infected or deceased fowl, the health department said.

    A test conducted by the China Disease Control and Prevention Center on Sunday, however, indicated he was H5N1 positive.

    In line with the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of avian flu infection as well as the Chinese standard, a bird flu prevention and control expert panel of the Chinese Ministry of Health concluded Lu had been infected with the flu.

    The local government had also taken prevention and control measures. All 69 people who had close contact with Lu have been put under strict medical observation. So far, they have shown no signs of the disease.

    The Ministry of Health had also reported the case to the WHO, authorities in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and some foreign governments.

    Jiangsu-based specialists for prevention and control of the disease said bird flu was an infectious disease shared by poultry and man. Human infections, however, were mainly caused by contact with dead or diseased domestic fowl or spread by migratory birds.

    No cases of human-to-human transmission of the flu have been reported, the experts said.

    The Jiangsu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau said no birdflu epidemic had been discovered in the province so far.

    "We have been implementing a compulsory vaccination program against highly-pathogenic bird flu since the second half of 2003," said a Jiangsu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau official. "Vaccines totaling 280 million milliliters were used for vaccinating poultry in the province this year."

    A recent province-wide survey over anti-pandemic work showed all its poultry had been vaccinated, and 92 percent of the birds had developed antibodies. The figure was 12 percentage points more than the national standard.

    The province had also been practicing a market access system under which all live poultry would be quarantined before being sent to market so as to ensure only the sale of healthy birds.

    After Lu's death, the Jiangsu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau and other provincial government departments conducted immediate inspections in marketplaces where live poultry was sold. Sample tests all proved negative of pathogeny.

    The provincial forestry authority said there were no reported cases of abnormal bird deaths from monitoring stations around Jiangsu.

    China has reported 26 human cases of bird flu since 2003.

    Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily from person to person, sparking a global pandemic.