71 released from quarantine over bird flu fears

Seventy-one people who had close contact with two patients who contracted avian influenza H5N1 in southwest China's Guizhou Province have been released from quarantine, local health authorities announced on Saturday.

Another 39 people are still under quarantine, according to the provincial health department statement.

Two residents of the provincial capital of Guiyang tested positive for the H5N1 virus on Sunday, it said.

One patient, a 21-year-old woman, died of multiple organ failure on Wednesday. The other patient, a 31-year-old man, is still receiving medical treatment, the statement said.

The health authority put 110 people who had close contact with the two patients, including their relatives and medical staff, under quarantine.

No new avian influenza H5N1 cases have been reported, it said.

Places where the two patients were known to have visited have been disinfected, said Song Yufeng, Communist Party of China (CPC) secretary of the provincial health department.

The human-transmissible form of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, is an acute respiratory infectious disease mainly caused by the deadly H5N1 virus subtype. Main symptoms include high fever and pneumonia.

Human infections of bird flu are usually caused by transmission from poultry to humans. There have been no reported cases of sustained human-to-human transmission.