A 40-year-old man from Vietnam's southern Bac Lieu province has died of acute pneumonia, who has been suspected of having contracted bird flu, according to local newspaper Youth on Thursday.

The man named Lai Van Tan from the province's Bac Lieu town was hospitalized and died on Feb. 19 after showing bird flu symptoms. His neighbors said he had frequently contacted with fighting cocks.

To date, Vietnam has confirmed a total of 104 human cases of bird flu infections, including 50 fatalities, since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003.

In mid-February, two local people, a 27-year-old man from northern Ninh Binh province and a 40-year-old man from northern Hai Duong province, died from bird flu. On Jan. 18, a 32-year-old man from northern Tuyen Quang province died from the disease.

Last December, after detecting no human cases of bird flu infections for nearly four months, Vietnam's Health Ministry confirmed that a four-year-old boy from northern Son La province died on Dec. 16, 2007 from bird flu.

All the recently-detected bird flu patients have had close contacts with fowls before exhibiting bird flu symptoms.

Vietnam currently has six localities having poultry being hit by bird flu including Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Nam Dinhand Tuyen Quang in the northern region, and northern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health under the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Feb. 20.

Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)