China confirms second case of A/H1N1 influenza on mainland

Source: Xinhua  |   2009-5-13  |     ONLINE EDITION

China's Ministry of Health confirmed Wednesday a man who returned from Canada last week has tested positive for the A/H1N1 influenza.

The case, the second of its kind on the Chinese mainland, involved a 19-year-old student surnamed Lu who arrived in Beijing from Canada on May 8 and traveled to Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong, three days later.

Lu, who studied at a Canadian university, boarded Air Canada flight AC029, in Toronto at noon on May 7 and stopped in Vancouver before arriving in Beijing on May 8, a spokesman with the Canadian Embassy to China told Xinhua Wednesday.

The spokesman said the embassy had no information on the number of Canadian nationals aboard the flight or their whereabouts.

A statement on the website of China's Health Ministry said Lu was "recovering with a normal body temperature."

The girlfriend of Lu, a 17-year-old girl surnamed Zhang who traveled with him and later took a private car sent by her parents to take her home to Tianjin, was quarantined Wednesday. She has shown no symptoms of the virus, according to the health department of Tianjin Municipality.

The development came just two days after a 30-year-old man surnamed Bao was found to have contracted the virus in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Bao is the first confirmed case of A/H1N1 on the Chinese mainland.

Airport authorities said his body temperature was normal when he arrived in Beijing.

He had a fever on May 10 and developed a sore throat and headache on May 11. He took his temperature himself, and had a reading of 39 degrees Celsius, according to the ministry.

Lu left Beijing by train D41 on Monday evening for Jinan, and reported by phone to the Jinan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while on the train. He was later sent to the Jinan Infectious Disease Hospital for isolation and treatment.

The Jinan CDC and Shandong CDC conducted tests on the virus specimen of the patient Tuesday, which showed that he was "suspected positive" for A/H1N1.

The country's health authorities had begun to trace those in close contact with Lu during his travels.

Passengers from rows 32 to 38 on flight AC029 on May 8, and those who traveled on the seventh carriage of Monday's train D41 were required to report to health authorities as soon as possible, said the statement.

Tracing train passengers could be more difficult than plane passengers in China as ID is not required before boarding.