China prepares to test bird flu vaccine on people

China reported its second confirmed human death from bird flu as it prepared to test a vaccine on people amid increasingly drastic measures to contain outbreaks of the disease in poultry, state media said today.

The latest fatality was a 35-year-old farmer identified only by her surname, Xu, who died on Tuesday after developing a fever and pneumonia-like symptoms following contact with sick and dead poultry, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Health Ministry.