Chinese soldier dies from bird flu

A 19-year-old soldier has become China's 16th bird flu fatality, the World Health Organization (WHO) and China's Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The man, named Cheng, was stationed in the southern province of Fujian. He died on Sunday having been originally hospitalized on May 14 with a fever and cough, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Ministry of Health informed the WHO of the situation on Sunday but did not supply details as to how Cheng contracted the H5N1 strain of the virus. One of China's two other reported human cases of bird flu this year was a farmer in Fujian, although it is understood that Cheng wasn't from the same part of the province. The WHO said that the People's Liberation Army has put those who had contact with Cheng under observation, but "so far there are no clinical abnormalities." Cheng's case is the 24th of 25 human infections of H5N1 in China that have taken place without a reported outbreak among poultry.