A 24-year-old man from Vietnam's central highlands Lam Dong
province, and a 6-year-old girl from southern Dong Nai province,
tested positive to H5N1, bringing the total deaths caused by bird
flu in the country to 13, local medical officials told Xinhua on
Friday.
"We have treated four flu type A patients who live in Lam Dong
province. Two have already died of H5N1 according to our testing.
The latest case in our hospital is a 24-year-old man," said Tran
Tinh Hien, deputy director of the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in
Ho Chi Minh City.
The adult victim, who lived in the province's Di Linh district,
died on Feb. 2. Earlier, an 18-year-old man from the K'ho ethnic
minority in the district, also tested positive to H5N1.
"Our testing on Jan. 2 showed that a 6-year-old girl named
Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhi from Dong Nai's Bien Hoa city contracted
H5N1," Phan Van Tu from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City
told Xinhua on Friday.
The child died on Tuesday after being admitted to a pediatrics
hospital in Dong Nai, and then to the Hospital of Pediatrics No.
1in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 30
She must have directly contacted an infected fowl, because her
family had been offered a fighting cock by a neighbor before the
traditional Lunar New Year festival, and the cock died shortly
afterwards.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Health Department, a total
ofseven local people hospitalized in the city had been infected
withflu type A by Thursday morning, of whom six died. The victims
include two in Lam Dong and one in Dong Nai, Soc Trang, Tay Ninh
and Ho Chi Minh City each.
Meanwhile, a total of six residents in central highlands Gia Lai
province have been hospitalized with symptoms of fever, headache
and difficult breathing, of whom one has died, local newspaper
Vietnam Agriculture reported Friday.
Samples of the patients are under testing for flu type A
viruses. Meanwhile, many residents in central highlands Dac Lac
province are still slaughtering chickens and ducks to eat or
selling poultry eggs with lower prices.
By Thursday, Vietnam reported 124 flu type A infections and
suspects, who come from 22 local cities and provinces.
(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2004)