Beijing  - A two-year-old girl has been infected with bird fly and is in a critical condition in China's northern Shanxi province, a health official of the provincial government confirmed Sunday, according to a report by the Chinese Xinhua news agency.

The girl's health had deteriorated after she first fell ill on January 7, and she had been taken to the Shanxi hospital following initial treatment in a different hospital.

Medical tests by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that she was infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

The people she had been in close contact with were under medical observation, but nobody had been found ill so far, the official said. dpa