Some 126 people in Changsha County were quarantined after a two-year-old girl was diagnosed of avian flu on Jan. 17; and another 31 in Huaihua County were quarantined after a 16-year-old boy died of the same disease on 20 January.

"None of them had any flu-like symptoms during the period, so the health department decided to end quarantine as of 0 a.m. Tuesday," said Liu Ke, a spokesman with the Hunan Provincial Health Department.

Those under quarantine included family members and relatives of the patients, medical workers who treated them and drivers who assisted their travels, he said.

A two-year-old girl, surnamed Peng, fell ill in Changsha County on 7 January. Undiagnosed, she was taken to the northern Shanxi Province by her grandparents on 11 January. Peng was confirmed to be infected with avian flu on 17 January at a hospital in Taiyuan.

Health authorities in Shanxi said last week Peng was "out of danger" and her vital signs were stable.

China has reported five human deaths from the H5N1 virus this year. In the latest case, an 18-year-old man surnamed Liang died Monday in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. He was ill since 19 January.

The other four deaths included a 19-year-old woman in Beijing on 5 January, a 27-year-old woman in Shandong on 17 January, a 16-year-old boy in Hunan on 20 January, and a 31-year-old woman in Xinjiang on 23 January.

Further Reading

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