Foreign 2009-02-16 14:13
HANOI, VIETNAM: A Vietnamese man has tested positive for bird flu, the third confirmed infection by the deadly H5N1 virus in the Southeast Asian country this year, health officials said Monday (16 Feb).
The 35-year-old man from northern Ninh Binh province, some 60 miles (100 kilometers ) south of Hanoi, developed a high fever on 5 Feb after slaughtering and eating several ducks his family had raised, said Vu Van Can, deputy director of the provincial health department.
The man was admitted to the National Institute for Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on Friday (13 Feb), where he tested positive to the H5N1 virus, Can said. The rest of his family tested negative.
Vietnam has seen two other bird flu cases this year, neither of them fatal.
Bird flu has killed 52 people in Vietnam, including five last year, since it began raging through Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. However, there have been fewer human cases since Vietnam began an aggressive vaccination program in domestic flocks.
The H5N1 strain has killed at least 254 people worldwide since 2003, most through contact with sick birds. The virus remains difficult for humans to catch, but scientists are monitoring it because of its potential to mutate into a new human influenza strain, which could infect millions. (AP)
hat-tip AlaskaDenise
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