China announced today the second death because of bird flu in this country, in less than a month, following the death of a person in Vietnam and a child in Cambodia.

Officials said the last patient died today in Guizhou Province in southwest China, after being taken to hospital on 6 January.

Tin said the 39-year-old man who has no direct contact with poultry.

In December last year, a bus driver had died of avian flu in Guangdong Province.

Avian influenza virus is usually spread to people who have direct contact with infected birds have.

Some scientists fear the H5N1 virus could change into a form that can spread easily between people with each other, and thus potentially causing millions of deaths.