Guangdong Provincial Health Department declared on Saturday a suspect human case of bird flu was found in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

The patient, surnamed Lao, died Thursday after all rescue work failed. He was 32 and a local resident of Guangzhou.

He started to show symptoms of fever and pneumonia on February 22.

Preliminary investigation shows the patient had been long staying at a nearby live poultry slaughtering site when he carried out a market survey.

The provincial government immediately launched emergency measures to prevent and control the disease.

People in close contact with the patient have been isolated for medical observation. The places where the patient had been staying around have been disinfected to prevent the disease from spreading.

The information has been reported to the Ministry of Health.

Statistics show the Ministry of Health have reported 14 human cases of bird flu. Eight of them died and the rest have recovered.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2006)