Beijing's first H7N9 patient to be discharged Wed

BEIJING - A seven-year-old girl who tested positive for the H7N9 avian influenza virus will be discharged from a Beijing hospital on Wednesday, local health authorities said Tuesday.

After six days of treatment, the temperature of the girl surnamed Yao has stabilized, and her breathing and blood tests have also improved, said Cheng Jun, spokesman for Beijing Ditan Hospital, where the girl is receiving treatment.

Yao, who was confirmed as the first H7N9 infection case in China's capital on April 13, has tested negative for the H7N9 virus over the past three days, Cheng said.

She will be discharged from the hospital around 3 p.m. Wednesday. The medical observation for her parents will also be terminated Wednesday, as neither of them have shown any abnormal symptoms, said Zhong Dongbo, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

Meanwhile, a four-year-old carrying the H7N9 virus is in stable condition, and his medical observation in Ditan Hospital will also end soon, said Chen Zhihai, director of the hospital's infectious disease department.

So far, only one H7N9 patient has been discharged from the hospital after treatments were successful. The four-year-old boy was released from a Shanghai hospital on April 10.

As of Tuesday, 71 cases of the H7N9 strain of bird flu have been reported across China, including one in Beijing, 24 in Shanghai, two in the central province of Henan, 21 in the eastern province of Zhejiang, 20 in the eastern province of Jiangsu and three in Anhui Province in the east.

Fourteen of the cases have ended in death.