Two more people have died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in China, making the death toll to five out of eight human cases reported so far in the country, said the Ministry of Health in Beijing Wednesday.

The two victims, reported last month, were a 10-year-old girl in the southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and a 35-year-old man in eastern Jiangxi Province.

They died on Dec. 16 and 30 respectively after all medical treatment measures failed.

In the other six human cases reported since China first confirmed human infection on Nov. 16, two from eastern Anhui Province were dead, two from central Hunan Province and northeast Liaoning Province were cured and one from eastern Fujian Province dead.

The latest victim is a six-year-old boy from Hunan, who fell ill in December and is now in hospital. The boy is in critical condition.

Source: Xinhua