Bird flu sweeps through Vietnam

2005-01-28 09:32

Hanoi - A man who tested positive for avian flu has died in Vietnam, becoming the country's 10th victim of the disease in the past month, a doctor said on Friday.

"The victim died Thursday afternoon after he tested positive to bird flu," said the doctor at Hanoi's Bach Mai hospital.

The 32-year-old man came from the province of Phu Tho, 80km northeast of the capital Hanoi, which is in northern Vietnam.

A doctor in the south of the country said on Friday that two girls who had also tested positive for bird flu were in a critical condition in Ho Chi Minh City's Pediatric Hospital No1.

The H5N1 strain of the virus has claimed 10 lives in Vietnam, most of them the south of the country, since December 30 and 30 since the end of 2003.

Swept across Asia

Twelve people have also died in Thailand from the virus that has swept Asia since December 2003.

A man who was the first person in northern Vietnam to contract the disease was to be discharged from hospital on Friday, a doctor at Hanoi's Institute of Tropical Diseases emergency department told AFP.

Hanoi resident Nguyen Thanh Hung, 42, lost his brother to bird flu this month.

Their youngest brother also tested positive for the virus but did not show any symptoms. The World Health Organisation has said however that more tests were needed to confirm his infection.

The bird flu virus has now spread to 27 of Vietnam's 64 cities and provinces. More than 812 000 poultry have been culled since the start of the year in a bid to stem the spread of the disease, which can be picked up from infected birds.

However demand for poultry is expected to boom during next month's Lunar New Year holidays, risking the further spread of the virus to humans.

- AFP