A woman had died of bird flu in east China's Shandong Province, the second death caused by avian influenza in the country in the new year, provincial health authorities reported on Sunday.

The 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang, who lived in Jinan, the provincial capital, fell ill on January 5 and went to hospital when got worse, said an official of the provincial health department.

She died at 6:40 PM on Saturday.

The national disease prevention and control center on Sunday confirmed that she was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

People who had close contact with Zhang had been under observation of health experts, but no one was found infected.

The new case had been reported to the World Health Organization.

A 19-year-old woman bird flu patient named Huang Yanqing died in Beijing on January 5.

Zhang was the third case of human bird flu found in China in 2009.

In the neighboring Shanxi Province, a two-year-old girl surnamed Peng was confirmed to be infected with the same virus on Saturday.

The toddler had been in critical condition and doctors had been trying to brought the virus under control, local health officials said on Sunday.

The 67 people who had close contact with the girl had been under observation but no one was found infected.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2009)