China, which has had four outbreaks of the deadly and virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu among poultry in the past three weeks, said Sunday it had asked the WHO to help determine whether the death of a 12-year-old girl last month was caused by the virus.
There have been no confirmed human deaths in China from bird flu, which has killed at least 62 people across Southeast Asia.
But on Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese experts "cannot rule out the possibility of human transmission of H5N1 bird flu'' in the cases of three people in Wantang in central Hunan province who came down with pneumonia last month following a bird flu outbreak among local poultry.
One of them _ the 12-year-old girl _ died.
Her 9-year-old brother and a 36-year-old middle school teacher recovered. Chinese officials initially said the girl and her brother tested negative for the bird flu virus.
Source. There are also reports that China is mobilizing its military:
China has begun mobilizing its 2.3 million-strong military to ``defend and control'' against avian influenza and to prevent it from spreading to humans, the People's Liberation Army Daily, the official mouthpiece of the military, said.
``Under orders of the National Avian Influenza Command Center, we will work closely with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and local authorities in the fight against avian influenza,'' the Liberation Daily said.
China's cabinet, the State Council, met with members of the Central Military Commission yesterday to draw up a plan to involve the military in efforts to contain the outbreak of avian influenza.
``We will use the same fighting spirit that we had against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome,'' the Liberation Daily said in reference to China's efforts to contain SARS in 2003. China has the world's largest military.
