CHANGCHUN - Northeast China's Jilin has reported the province's first human infection of the H7N9 strain of bird flu.

A 34-year-old male patient from Tonghua city is in severe condition and receiving treatment in hospital, according to the provincial health and family planning commission.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013. Infections are most likely to occur in winter and spring.

Disease control and prevention experts have said that the H7N9 virus cannot not be transmitted from person to person.

Experts recommend that people avoid contact with dead and live poultry, and only buy poultry with quarantine certificates.