BEIJING -- Chinese officials have begun inspections of slaughterhouses and poultry farms in the Beijing area after a teenage girl living in the capital died of bird flu, state media reported Wednesday.
City government officials have also ordered closer monitoring of the poultry trade in Beijing to check if other birds are carrying the virus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, although there are so far no reports of any "abnormal situations."
City authorities have also banned live poultry from outside the Beijing area from being brought into the capital unless the owners are given permission by disease-control officials.
Beijing's Health Bureau announced Tuesday that Huang Yanqing, 19, died of bird flu after cleaning the carcasses of nine ducks she had bought at a market in the neighboring province Hebei last month.
The World Health Organization said in a statement released late Tuesday it has not increased its risk assessment for bird flu in China as it appears Huang died as a result of contact with infected poultry rather than with a person carrying the disease.
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"We are concerned by any case of human H5N1 infection, however, this single case, which appears to have occurred during the slaughtering and preparation of poultry, does not change our risk assessment," the statement said.
H5N1 is an often-deadly form of the bird flu virus.
U.N. health officials say there is a far more severe risk of the virus spreading if it is passed on from human to human, but this form of transmission is rare.
The WHO says 248 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003, including the latest case in Beijing. The last fatal case of bird flu in China was in February last year.
Workers have begun disinfecting the market where Huang bought the ducks, Xinhua reported. Shops at the market selling poultry have been closed.
Huang's home and the hospital wards where she was treated before she died Monday morning have also been disinfected.
A nurse who treated the girl fell ill with fever, but has since recovered, state media have reported.
A statement released by the Beijing Health Bureau said two sets of scientific tests have indicated that Huang died from the H5N1 virus.
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Officials believe more than 100 people came into contact with her after she fell ill, including her family, neighbors and medical staff who treated her.
A baby girl from the southern province of Guangdong was diagnosed as having bird flu last month and she has received hospital treatment in Hong Kong.
About 377,000 poultry were also slaughtered in the eastern province Jiangsu in December after traces of suspected bird flu virus were found in some animals, although no human infections were reported.
