Second bird flu death in Vietnam in a week

Vietnamese authorities have confirmed another new bird-flu death, this time the victim is a 15-year-old boy.

This latest fatality brings the death toll in Vietnam from the deadly avian influenza to four, with two in the last week, of seven known illnesses since the virus re-emerged in humans in May.

A 22-year-old pregnant woman also died in Hanoi on July 28th.

The latest death brings the toll from avian influenza in Vietnam to 46 since 2003.

The boy apparently lived on a farm where poultry were infected and died on his way to hospital in the capital Hanoi on Friday.

Tests conducted later were positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

The youth was initially admitted to a local hospital with a fever and breathing problems on July 27th in Thang Hoa province, 250 kilometres south of Hanoi.

According to Vietnamese officials the family had bought 20 ducklings to raise on their farm but one by one they died and then the boy became sick.

Although Vietnam at one time had the highest number of deaths from the H5N1 virus, it has been praised by world health organisations for it's handling of outbreaks, it's transparency and readiness to take appropriate action.

The virus has killed 46 of the 100 confirmed cases since late 2003.

It has contained the spread of the virus and slowed down the death rate through a mass poultry-vaccination scheme in late 2005 and more than 130 million chickens and ducks have now been vaccinated.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu remains primarily a disease of birds which affects poultry and wild birds but it can infect humans who have close contact with infected birds.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) bird flu has killed some 192 people worldwide since it emerged in 2003.

Experts are concerned that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a new human influenza strain and trigger a flu pandemic that could kill millions.

The WHO has urged careful monitoring of H5N1 combined with efforts to limit it in domestic poultry to prevent humans from contact with the virus.