BEIJING - A 19-year-old Chinese soldier has died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country"e;s 16th reported death from the virus, the

World Health Organization said Tuesday.

The man, who was stationed in the southern province of Fujian, died Sunday after being hospitalized May 14 with a fever and a cough, said Joanna Brent, a spokeswoman for the WHO"e;s Beijing office.

The Health Ministry informed the WHO about the death Sunday but did not give any details about his case, including how he contracted the H5N1 strain, where exactly he was posted or if other people were at risk, Brent said.

The People"e;s Liberation Army has put all of the soldier"e;s contacts under close observation and "so far there are no clinical abnormalities. We understand it"e;s an individual case," Brent said.

A woman who answered the telephone at the press office of the Health Ministry said she could not provide any details of the case.

China"e;s military is extremely secretive, which complicates cooperation with international organizations. Telephones were not answered at the Ministry of National Defense.

Last year, it was disclosed that new tests on the body of a 24-year-old soldier who died in 2003 in Beijing confirmed that he succumbed to bird flu — one of the earliest deaths in a resurgent wave of the disease that swept through the region.

The military has yet to provide a promised virus sample from that case, the WHO has said.

While H5N1 is most commonly passed from sick poultry to humans who have close contact with the infected birds, the WHO has said that Cheng"e;s case was China"e;s 24th of 25 human infections that occurred without a reported outbreak among poultry — indicating a weak surveillance system and a still-circulating virus.

Experts worry that H5N1 could mutate into a form more easily transmitted between people if outbreaks are not controlled, potentially causing a worldwide pandemic.

One of China"e;s two other reported human cases of bird flu this year was a farmer also in Fujian but Brent said Cheng was not near that area.

The official Xinhua News Agency said last week that the farmer, Li Yinxiu, had been discharged from the hospital after three months of treatment. She had developed symptoms after coming in contact with dead poultry.

Bird flu has killed at least 188 people since H5N1 started ravaging poultry flocks in late 2003.