China's eighth bird flu patient left hospital and returned home on Thursday in central China's Hunan Province.

The six-year-old boy, surnamed Ouyang, has fully recovered, Zhu Yimin, president of the Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital, said on Thursday.

"After 44 days of isolation, my son can play like a healthy kid as before," the boy's father said.

The little boy was confirmed on January 9 to have been infected with H5N1 bird flu. He suffered serious damages to both lungs.

Ouyang had fever and symptoms of pneumonia on Dec. 24 last year. He was transferred to the Children's Hospital on January 9 and has been under round-the-clock monitoring since then.

China has announced 12 human cases of bird flu since last October, resulting in eight deaths. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 170 human cases, including 92 deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)