Suspected bird flu claims baby's life in Vietnam
HANOI - A boy in southern Vietnam has died from suspected bird flu, the lethal strain of virus that has killed at least 20 people in the communist nation since late 2003, officials said Wednesday. Nine-year-old Thach Phung, from Cang Long district of the southern province of Tra Vinh died on Tuesday night, Luong Van Minh, Deputy Director of Tra Vinh provincial hospital told Agence France-Presse.
He was initially treated at the provincial clinic, and then transferred to the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday. "Tests in Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute before his death showed that the boy was positive to H5N1 virus," Minh said. "After having direct contact with infected poultry, he was admitted to our hospital with high fever before being transferred to Ho Chi Minh City," he said.
On Sunday a 16-year-old girl from Tay Ninh in Vietnam tested positive for the lethal strain of bird flu. The girl from the rural southern province of has been receiving treatment at the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. New outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in seven southern provinces in Vietnam since late December and at least 14,000 birds have been culled to try to contain the disease, according to local officials.
Agence France Presse - January 5, 2005
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