ALARMING

China Reports First Human Death From H3N8 Bird Flu

A 56-year-old woman had been hospitalized with severe pneumonia.

The first recorded case of someone dying from a type of bird flu which is not commonly found in humans has been reported in China, the World Health Organization announced Tuesday. The patient, a 56-year-old woman from Guangdong in southern China, was the third person to be infected with the H3N8 strain of avian influenza. The other two cases were confirmed in China last year. The WHO said the woman had “multiple underlying conditions” and had a “history of exposure to live poultry” before the onset of the disease. She was admitted to the hospital with “severe pneumonia” on March 3 before dying less than two weeks later. The health agency said the strain does not appear to have the “ability to spread easily from person to person” and that the risk of a local or international outbreak is “considered to be low.”