Teenage girl infected with bird flu in Vietnam
HANOI - A teenage girl in southern Vietnam has been infected with the lethal strain of bird flu that has killed at least 20 people in the communist nation since late last year. The 16-year-old girl from the rural southern province of Tay Ninh was receiving treatment at the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, a doctor there said, requesting anonymity.
"She is suffering from respiratory failure and is in a critical condition. We suspect that she contracted the H5N1 virus after killing and preparing a chicken for cooking," he told AFP.
He refused to give her name or say when she was admitted to the hospital in the southern business capital but said there were no signs that other members of her family had been infected.
The state-controlled Saigon Giai Phong newspaper said the teenager was infected with the virus on December 19 and was hospitalised in Tay Ninh province before being transferred to Ho Chi Minh City last Sunday.
The World Health Organization said it was closely monitoring the situation.
"We are aware of the case," Peter Horby, a communicable disease expert with the UN health agency in Hanoi, told AFP.
Vietnam has been tackling fresh outbreaks of avian influenza over the past month. The virus has been detected among poultry in seven southern Mekong Delta provinces, including Tay Ninh, forced the culling of more than 11,000 birds.
On Monday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has ordered a ban on the transportation of sick poultry from affected areas.
The government said in October that it had brought bird flu under control.
It had made a similar announcement on March 30 but had to admit later that the declaration had been premature after three people, including two children, died in August after being infected with the H5N1 virus.
More than 44 million poultry have died or been culled since December 2003 as a result of bird flu, which has claimed 20 lives in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand.
Experts said avian influenza has entrenched itself in much of Asia and is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
Agence France Presse - December 30, 2004.
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