Suspected bird flu death in Nigeria

GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A woman who died in Nigeria might have been infected with bird flu, the U.N. health agency says.

This would be the first confirmed fatal case of bird flu in sub-Saharan Africa, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Preliminary test results on samples from the 22-year-old woman from Lagos were positive for the H5N1 virus. The samples were sent to a WHO center for further testing.

The woman died Jan. 16. Her mother, who had similar symptoms, died Jan. 4.

There have been 270 cases of bird flu worldwide; 164 of them were fatal.