BEIJING (Reuters) - China has reported a bird flu outbreakin poultry in the southwestern province of Guizhou, state mediareported late on Monday, the same day a woman died from birdflu in the south.

The poultry outbreak, which was first noticed on February17 in the city of Zunyi, had killed 3,993 birds and triggeredthe culling of more than 238,000 birds, Xinhua said, citing theMinistry of Agriculture.

China has reported four outbreaks of the disease in poultrysince December, when average temperatures across the countryhit their lowest in decades. Bird flu tends to be more activein low temperatures.

With the world's biggest poultry population and hundreds ofmillions of farmers raising birds in their backyards, China isseen as crucial in the global fight against the disease.

China has also reported three confirmed human deaths frombird flu this year, in central Hunan province, the southernregion of Guangxi and the latest in southern province ofGuangdong.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)