BEIJING (AFP) - A teenage soldier in China has died from bird flu, the health ministry reported Tuesday, but a WHO official said the country's 16th death from the virus was not cause for major alarm.

A statement from the ministry said the 19-year-old soldier had failed to respond to emergency treatment, but that the virus did not seem to have been passed on.

An earlier World Health Organisation statement said the soldier died on Sunday.

"People who had come into close contact with the victim have not shown any manifestations (of bird flu) so the medical observations have been lifted," the ministry statement said.

The soldier, who was serving in Fujian province in the southeast, was the first human bird flu case in China since a 16-year-old died on March 27 from the deadly H5N1 virus.

The People's Liberation Army petty officer developed a fever and pneumonia-like symptoms on May 9 and was hospitalised five days later. He was the 25th confirmed bird flu case in China according to the WHO.

There were no details on how he contracted the virus. Most victims have had contact with infected poultry.

Joanna Brent, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the WHO, said the health body was not concerned about an epidemic.

"This is the third case in China this year. Three individual cases in a country of more than a billion people is not a cause for alarm," she said.

Brent praised China's prompt reporting of avian influenza outbreaks.

"We have been pretty comfortable with the reporting of recent cases," she said.

"The last case involved the military, which adds a level of complexity wherever you are working, but with this most recent case the PLA quickly established close contacts."

Brent added that China's widespread vaccination programme meant there was often no pre-warning from outbreaks in poultry, as is the case in other parts of Asia.

Of the 25 cases confirmed in China, only one has followed a matching outbreak in poultry. Brent said it meant China needed to step up its surveillance of possible outbreaks to try to predict future cases more precisely.

"There is nothing to suggest that there is an increased threat to humans," she said.

"However, obviously the virus is still present in China, and we need to remain vigilant."

China conducted a huge campaign last year to contain the disease, aggressively slaughtering tens of thousands of poultry and stepping up public education efforts.

H5N1 has now killed 188 people and ravaged poultry flocks worldwide since 2003, according to the WHO.

Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.