Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    THE first person in Shenzhen to be infected with the H5N6 avian flu virus died Dec. 30, the city’s center for disease control and prevention (CDC) confirmed yesterday.

    The 26-year-old woman, surnamed Wu, was already in critical condition when she went to see a doctor. She tested positive for H5N6 on Dec. 28. The Bao’an District resident was the sixth H5N6 human infection reported worldwide.

    The CDC center said Wu’s infection was caused by close contact with live poultry. The center, aided by the city’s genomic institute, BGI, spent five days analyzing a throat swab taken from Wu.

    The live poultry market Wu visited was shut down for a week. Twenty people who had close contact with her showed no symptoms during a weeklong medical quarantine and have been released, the center said.

    Local doctors say the H7N9 avian flu is more challenging to treat and fatal in 40 percent of patients.

    “Wu was already in critical condition before she came to a hospital for treatment,” said Ma Hanwu, a deputy director with the CDC. “She died because she didn’t get timely treatment.”

    Zhong Nanshan, a Guangzhou doctor who treats respiratory diseases and became well-known after managing the SARS outbreak in Guangdong in 2003, has said that it’s proven that it’s more effective to use tamiflu to treat avian flu at an early stage.

    The world’s first H5N6 human case was reported in April 2014 in Sichuan Province. The victim later died. A Guangzhou man was infected with the virus in December last year but made a full recovery.

    Local experts said that the Shenzhen H5N6 case is an individual case and the risk for it to spread is very low.

    Guangdong’s Chaoqing City reported the world’s seventh H5N6 infection, the city’s health authorities said Monday.

    A 40-year-old woman surnamed He is in critical condition in a Chaoqing hospital. Sixty-four people who had close contact with He and five other live poultry market workers are being quarantined.