China's official news agency says a 31-year-old poultry farmer is the country's fifth confirmed human case of bird flu, but the woman has since been released from the hospital after her condition improved.

The Xinhua news agency says the woman from Heishan County, Liaoning province in China's northeast became sick with pneumonia-like symptoms on October 30 and was hospitalized.

Her condition improved and she was discharged on November 29. Tests later showed the woman had contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu. Health officials are now monitoring people who had contact with her.

Wednesday, China announced its fourth human victim of bird flu, a 10-year-old girl in southern Guangxi region. She remains hospitalized.

Since 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed nearly 70 people, mostly in southeast Asia.