Chinese woman dies of bird flu

BEIJING - A 22-year-old pregnant woman died from a bird flu infection in China’s Hubei province, the ministry of health has said.

The woman named Chen was four months pregnant when she began to show symptoms of bird flu and was hospitalised in Hubei province’s Ezhou city May 23. She died Thursday, after she tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, Xinhua reported quoting local disease prevention authorities.

Those who had been in close contact with Chen are under medical observation, but none have become ill, the ministry said.

The ministry, however, said experts sent by the ministry of agriculture have not found signs of an epidemic of avian flu among birds in the region.