Feb 19, 2008, 13:45 GMT
Beijing - A 22-year-old man has died of bird flu in central China, with health officials still not certain how he contracted the disease, the official Chinese agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.
The report said the man was taken to hospital on January 22 suffering from fever and headaches, and he died two days later. Tests determined he was infected with the H5N1 virus.
Afterwards, people who had been in close contact with the man were placed under observation.
So far, China has had 18 officially-confirmed deaths as a result of bird flu, while worldwide the figure is around 225.
Meanwhile Chinese health officials confirmed that a new outbreak of the virus among birds now taking place in Tibet. The discovery of chickens infected with the virus in a village outside the capital Lhasa was already the second such case in Tibet this year.
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