China treats fifth human bird flu successfully
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-09 22:00

China has treated the fifth person with bird flu successfully, a woman from northeast China's Liaoning Province who was declared as the fifth person to have contracted human bird flu on Thursday by the Ministry of Health.

Nurses cordon a corridor inside a hospital as part of a drill on the outbreak of bird flu in Hong Kong November 8, 2005. [Reuters]

"I was discharged from hospital nine days ago after doctors proved I'm healthy. Initial tests during my hospitalization did not suggest I got bird flu, but the latest tests did," said the woman, surnamed Liu.

The patient's individual physical condition made the case special and her blood test turned positive only 28 days after she fell sick, said Zhao Zhuo, director of the Liaoning Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center.

The governments at various levels did not cover up this time and released the information to the public in time, Zhao said.

The woman, aged 31, was a chicken farmer in Fangshan Town in Heishan County, which was hit by bird flu on Nov. 3 and declared free from the epidemic on December 1 .

She got feverish on Oct. 30 with 38 degrees Celsius of body temperature. Then her condition worsened with more flu symptoms like coughs and shortness of breath on Nov. 3. She suffered from respiratory exhaustion on Nov. 7, about one week after falling sick.

With prompt, successful treatment, she was discharged as healthy from hospital on Nov. 29 after no flu symptoms had been detected for 14 consecutive days, said Jiang Chao, director of Liaoning Provincial Health Department.

During treatment, Liaoning Provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center tested her blood four times - in the acute period, at 14 days, at 21 days after she got sick, and 28 days after she got sick and was recovering.

The previous three tests were negative, while the last one was positive. The outcome was confirmed in further tests by the China Disease Prevention and Control Center.

The local disease control and prevention center found the bloodsample on Nov. 26 positive, namely 28 days after the woman got sick. The sample was forwarded to the China National Disease Prevention and Control Center, which found it negative. But further tests on Dec. 5 with local H5N1 bird flu virus from Heishan was positive.

The information was sent to a local disease control and prevention center and publicized in the following two days.

Nine people in close contact with Liu, including her husband, son, daughter, mother-in-law, a village doctor and four county medical workers, showed no flu-like symptoms after having been observed for seven days.

"I feel well now. I just want to live simply and undisturbed," said Liu, after having received so much attention in the past month.