A 21-year-old female farmer was confirmed infected with bird flu in central China's Hunan Province, said the provincial health bureau on Saturday.

The farmer, surnamed Shu, fell ill on Jan. 23 in Xupu County of the province and was hospitalized at the county's People's Hospital on Jan. 26, said a statement from the bureau.

Shu was transferred to a hospital in Changsha, capital of the province, on Thursday. So far she has been in a stable condition and become better.

According to the test result on Friday from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the farmer tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

An investigation found that Shu had contact with fowls that died of disease before becoming sick.

Hunan has launched an emergency response against the virus. Those who had close contact with the patient are under medical observation, but none of them has been found ill so far.

The Health Ministry said it had reported the case to the World Health Organization (WHO) and informed the health authorities of China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and relevant countries.

According to the health department of Hunan Province, a patient from Guizhou Province was diagnosed to be infected with bird flu in Huaihua of Hunan on January 19, who died a day later.

China reported five deaths from bird flu this year. The rest were a 19-year-old woman in Beijing on Jan. 5, a 27-year-old woman in Shandong on Jan. 17, a 31-year-old woman in Xinjiang on Jan. 23 and an 18-year-old man in Guangxi on Jan. 26.

According to statistics from WHO, China has reported an accumulated number of bird flu cases of 38 since 2003, with 25 deaths. The year 2006 saw the peak of bird flu reports by China, with 13 cases and 8 deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2009)