SHENZHEN, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- No further infections
of bird flu have been detected here in southern China, where an 82-day-old baby
girl contracted the disease, a city health bureau spokesman said on Wednesday.
The girl, surnamed Chen, was born in Hong Kong. She
had been living in Xiabaishi Village, Nanshan District with her grandmother
while her parents were working in Hong Kong.
The baby fell ill last Monday and was diagnosed as
having the H9N2 bird flu strain on Tuesday in a Hong Kong hospital, the
spokesman said.
Experts from the city's health bureau and disease
control center went to the village to investigate. They collected blood samples
from the baby's grandmother and eight staff members in a local hospital who had
contact with the baby. No virus was detected in those samples.
Experts also investigated a restaurant near the
patient's home that kept live chickens. No virus was found in blood samples from
four staff members of the restaurant.
The disease control center has sterilized the area
around the baby's home and the hospital where she sought treatment.
Experts said the H9N2 bird flu strain is less
pathogenic than the H5N1 strain.