The second woman to die in China, the state media says a 35-year-old female farmer with the surname Xu died Tuesday after falling ill on November 11.
The woman, from the eastern Anhui province, did indeed have contact with sick and dead poultry.
World Health Organization spokesman Dick Thompson confirmed to the media that she did indeed die of the H5N1 avian influenza.
"It was not unexpected," Thompson says. "There will be sporadic human cases as long as the virus is circulating in animals."
The case "doesn't change our pandemic level or risk assessment," he added.
