Both victims of a recent bird flu infection remained in critical condition yesterday as local authorities launched campaigns telling villagers to stay away from sick and dead fowl.

According to the doctor in charge, the 26-year-old woman farmer in east China's Anhui Province has lost one of her unborn twins.

"We don't know for sure if the H5N1 infection caused the death in the two-months-pregnant woman," said?a doctor who identified himself only with the surname Li .

The woman remained in the No 2 People's Hospital in Fuyang. The medical team treating her are required to file a daily report to the Ministry of Health, but the report has not been made public.

In Yingshang County, the woman's home, authorities were busy yesterday spreading bird flu knowledge among rural residents in about 30 villages.

"We have used television, banners and leaflets to urge villagers to stay away from sick birds, report suspicious cases and handle the dead chickens in a sanitary way," Sun Wei, an official with the county government, said yesterday by telephone.

"We have dispatched 15 inspection teams to the villages to ensure a new round of inoculations on new-born chickens."

The government has required that farmers keep their fowl indoors and has put stricter restrictions on fowl market, reducing the possibility of chickens' being infected by migratory birds.

In east China's Zhejiang Province, authorities have been monitoring constantly to prevent a possible outbreak in the province where a human infection was reported on Saturday.

A 9-year-old girl, surnamed You, in Dakeng Village of Anji County was reported as still in critical condition yesterday. The girl was confirmed on Saturday to have been infected with the H5N1 virus.

(China Daily March 1, 2006)