A woman had died of bird flu in east China's Shandong Province, the second death caused by avian influenza in the country in the new year, provincial health authorities reported on Sunday.

The 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang, who lived in Jinan, the provincial capital, fell ill on Jan. 5 and went to hospital when getting worse, said an official of the provincial health department.

She died at 6:40 p.m. on Saturday.

The national disease prevention and control center on Sunday confirmed that she was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

People who had close contact with Zhang had been under observation of health experts, but no one was found infected.

The new case had been reported to the World Health Organization.

A 19-year-old woman bird flu patient named Huang Yanqing died in Beijing on Jan. 5.

Zhang was the third case of human bird flu found in China in 2009.

In the neighboring Shanxi Province, a two-year-old girl surnamed Peng was confirmed to be infected with the same virus on Saturday.

The toddler had been in critical condition and doctors had been trying to brought the virus under control, local health officials said on Sunday.

The 67 people who had close contact with the girl had been under observation but no one was found infected.

No bird flu epidemic detected

China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Hunan provinces after the two-year-old girl surnamed Peng was confirmed to have been infected with the H5N1 strain of virus in Shanxi on Saturday.

Tests conducted in poultry farms and agriculture product markets in places where the girl had been to or around had found no abnormality, the MOA said.

The ministry urged local veterinary departments in the two provinces to enhance check on major poultry markets and disinfect the markets thoroughly.

China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighboring countries, the MOA has said. Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms.

The MOA urged intensified check nationwide, especially in regions with high risk of bird flu outbreak, and timely disposing of poultry samples which were tested with bird flu virus.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2009)