A 27-year-old woman surnamed Zhang died in the east Chinese province of Shandong Saturday, nearly two weeks after falling ill, the provincial health bureau said.

It was the second confirmed fatality this month from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, bringing the total number of reported deaths in China since 2003 to 22.

"With the approach of the Lunar New Year, the trade in poultry products is increasing, and there is a growing risk of the emergence and spread of epidemics," the agriculture ministry warned in a statement.

The ministry called for a number of measures to counter the re-emerging threat, including stepped-up surveillance and increased production of poultry vaccines.

The week-long Lunar holiday that begins on Monday sees many of the nation's 1.3 billion people travelling for family reunions that are characterised by big meals featuring poultry and other meats.

Low winter temperatures that are conducive to the spread of the virus are exacerbating the problem, specialists say.

Heightening concerns, two other people had been diagnosed with the deadly strain of bird flu in China, authorities said.

A two-year-old girl in the northern province of Shanxi was in a critical condition and a 16-year-old boy was also seriously ill in Hunan in central China, health authorities said.

The boy had come into contact with dead poultry, the Chinese health ministry said on its website.

Those who had been in close contact with the two were under observation, but none had shown signs so far of having contracted the disease, according to health authorities.

The girl had fallen ill in Hunan but had been brought to Shanxi by her grandparents, Chinese press reports said.

Following the case, the agriculture ministry sent teams to Shanxi and Hunan to look for traces of bird flu, but came up with nothing, the China News Service reported. A search in Shandong also yielded no results.

This highlighted the underlying threat of bird flu, as it indicated that the virus was lurking undetected in poultry.

"We are concerned about the three human cases in the mainland in the last month," Hong Kong secretary for food and health York Chow told reporters Monday.

"Particularly, all three cases were reported with avian flu and yet they are not connected directly with any outbreak of avian flu in poultry."

This month's previous fatality, a 19-year-old woman in Beijing, had been handling ducks she had bought in a market, also without the prior warning of an outbreak among fowl.

China has reported the latest cases to the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as health authorities in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to the China News Service.

"During the Chinese New Year holiday season, when people are more exposed to poultry as poultry consumption rises, people are urged to maintain normal precautions against avian influenza," the WHO said in a statement.

This meant "ensuring all poultry is well cooked and always washing hands after contact with raw meat," the statement said.

According to the WHO, about 250 people have died from bird flu worldwide since 2003.

Scientists fear the virus could mutate to jump easily from human to human, potentially sparking a global pandemic.

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