Bird flu kills 5, infects 16 in China

A 37-year-old woman has become the latest person to contract the human H7N9 avian flu in central China's Hunan Province, bringing the total number of infections this year to 16, including five fatalities.

The woman was diagnosed in Yueyang City on Monday She had contact with poultry before falling ill and is in critical condition, according to the provincial disease control and prevention centre.

People who had close contact with the patient have not shown symptoms of fever or coughing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In addition to Hunan, human H7N9 infections have also been reported in the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Hubei, Henan, Jiangxi and Shandong, as well as in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected many humans in March 2013 in China.