GUANGZHOU - A human infection with the H7N9 strain of avian influenza was confirmed in south China's Guangdong Province, Guangdong's health department said Saturday.

Sample of a 51-year-old woman surnamed Chen tested positive for the H7N9 virus at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday, confirming the results of tests conducted by the Guangdong provincial center for disease control and prevention on Friday, the department said in a statement.

Chen was admitted to Huizhou City Central People's Hospital on August 3 after having a fever for one week. She has been a poultry slaughtering worker in an agricultural products trade market for many years in Boluo County.

She was transferred to the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University for treatment on Friday night. She is in critical condition.

In July, the Chinese mainland reported a single H7N9 avian flu case in which a patient from north China's Hebei Province was diagnosed in Beijing, bringing the total number of infections on the mainland to 133. Of the cases, 44 have ended in death, according to the the National Health and Family Planning Commission.