Vietnam: HUMAN H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Second bird flu victim dies; man from Ninh Binh infected
(15-02-2008)
HA NOI ? A man has become Viet Nam?s second bird-flu victim to die this year after eating chickens that he found dead.
And a third man was confirmed yesterday to have been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, said Health Ministry?s Preventive Medicine and Environment Department director Dr Nguyen Huy Nga.
Nguyen Van San, 40, from Gia Loc District, Hai Duong Province, 60km south-east of Ha Noi, died at Ha Noi?s Hospital of Clinical Medicine and Tropical Diseases on Wednesday, four days after being admitted.
He was rushed to the hospital in a critical situation six days after his family ate two dead chickens.
No other family members were affected.
Samples taken from the dead man showed positive to the deadly H5N1 virus.
So did tests of samples from the third victim of the year, Hoang Van Doan, 27, from northern Ninh Binh Province, about 90km south of Ha Noi, who is in Ha Noi?s Bach Mai Hospital.
He was admitted on Tuesday with blood poisoning and pneumonia after he slaughtered and ate chicken during Tet.
Dr Nguyen Huy Nga said both men had underestimated the threat of bird flu.
The Health Ministry has warned of the possible wide-spread return of bird flu in the prevailing cold spell and instructed healthcare officials to strictly monitor patients suspected to have been infected, especially those with high fever.
The ministry also advised people to eat only well-cooked food, wash their hands before meals and never to eat dead birds.
Viet Nam?s first bird flu death for the year was confirmed last month after a 32-year-old man in northern Tuyen Quang Province?s Son Duong District ate ducks infected with the virus.
Of 104 people infected with bird flu in Viet Nam since it was first reported in late 2003, 49 have died.
Indonesia has reported 127 infections with 103 deaths. ? VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/s...um=02HEA150208

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Bird flu kills second Vietnamese in two days

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="68%"><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%" colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#eeeeee>Posted : Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:15:06 GMT</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#f5f5f5>Author : DPA </TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#fbfbfb>Category : Health </TD></TR><TR><TD>News Alerts by Email click here )</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="5%"></TD><TD width="95%">Create your own RSS</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD>Health News | Home </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top><SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--google_ad_client = "pub-6607258750979944";/* 160x600, created 11/02/08 */google_ad_slot = "7546020294";google_ad_width = 160;google_ad_height = 600;//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Hanoi - A man suffering from bird flu died Friday morning, the second death in two days and the third since the beginning of the year, a Vietnamese official said. The 27-year-old man had been admitted to a hospital in Ninh Binh province, 120 kilometers south of Hanoi, on Monday, and transferred to Hanoi the following day, according to Dinh Quoc Su, head of Ninh Binh's Animal Health Department.
The Ministry of Health announced late Thursday that the man had tested positive for the H5N1 avian flu virus.
Su said Doan and his family had eaten chicken bought at a local market during Tet, the Vietnamese lunar New Year's festival, which began on February 7.
He said local authorities had disinfected Doan's neighborhood and were trying to find out exactly where he had bought the chicken.
"Neither Doan's wife nor his 4-year-old son have shown any bird flu-like symptoms, but doctors are monitoring them," Su said.
Bird flu killed a 41-year-old man from northern Hai Duong province on Wednesday and a 32-year-old man from northern Tuyen Quang province in January. The latest death has raised the overall toll from H5N1 in Vietnam to 50 since bird flu first appeared in the country in 2003.
"The risk that bird flu will spread among poultry, and also to humans, is very high now," Nguyen Huy Nga, head of Vietnam's Preventive Medicine Department, said Thursday. "The weather is cold and a large number of poultry have been transported and slaughtered since Tet."
Nga said authorities have warned the population not to eat sick or dead poultry, and to see a doctor immediately in case of cough or fever.
H5N1 mainly affects poultry and wild birds, but can infect humans who have close contact with sick fowl. Scientists fear that if it spreads unchecked, the disease could mutate into a form which could be transmitted between humans, leading to a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions. <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/185937,bird-flu-kills-second-vietnamese-in-two-days.html

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Another bird flu patient dies
15/02/2008 -- 8:46 PM
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Ha Noi (VNA) ? A man from northern Ninh Binh province died of bird flu on February 14 in a Ha Noi hospital.

The death of the 27-year-old brings to four the number of fatalities from the H5N1 virus in Viet Nam out of the five cases tested positive for the virus since early 2008.

The fifth patient, a 7-year-old from northern Hai Duong province is under treatment at the Central Paediatric Hospital .

The National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases is now treating several other patients having bird flu symptoms while waiting for the H5N1 virus test results from the Central Institute of Epidemiology.

The Ministry of Public Health has co-organised with relevant agencies to conduct detoxification measures and give Tamilflu to people in high-risk provinces including Hai Duong and Ninh Binh.-</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.vnanet.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/235981/Default.aspx

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[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Commentray

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02150802/H5N1_N_Vietnam_3.html

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2008_02_15/en/index.html

15 February 2008
The Ministry of Health in Viet Nam has confirmed a new case of human infection of H5N1 avian influenza. The case has been confirmed by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).
The case is a 40 -year old male from Gia Loc district, Hai Duong province. He developed symptoms on 2 February was hospitalized on 8 February and died on 13 February. The case had contact with sick and dead poultry prior to his illness. The Ministry of Health and local health units have implemented control measures and close contacts have been identified. All remain healthy and will continue to be monitored.
Of the 103 cases confirmed to date in Vietnam, 49 have been fatal.

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Bird flu kills man in northern Vietnam
News about: VIET NAM
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:59:25 +0100 (MET)
by Frank Zeller

HANOI, Feb 14, 2008 (AFP) - Bird flu killed a Vietnamese man this week, the country's second victim of the H5N1 strain in 2008, raising the national death toll from the virus to 49, health officials said Thursday. The 40-year-old man died of pneumonia and kidney failure Wednesday at the National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Hospital in Hanoi after four days of treatment there, said the hospital's deputy director Nguyen Hong Ha. "The man from Hai Duong province died of H5N1 type-A influenza," said Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Preventive Medicine Department at the Ministry of Health. "This is the 103rd case of bird flu and the 49th death from it in Vietnam."

The man had been treated at home and in a provincial hospital after handling chicken, said Nga, adding that people who were in close contact with him were now also being tested for bird flu and given the drug Tamiflu. "The man's family had seven sick chickens. They sold five and kept two," said an official from Vietnam's Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases. "The man handled the two chickens and ate them with his family." The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been notified of the death and invited to accompany government health officials to visit the man's house and investigate the case, said WHO spokeswoman Dida Connor. "The case shows that while the virus remains in the environment, people need to stay vigilant," said Connor. "The public protection measures remain as important as ever because the risk hasn't gone away." Northern Vietnam has been in the grip of a month-long cold snap that experts say has aided the spread of flu and other respiratory diseases because immune systems are weakened and people tend to spend more time indoors together.

Last week's traditional Tet lunar New Year, the country's biggest festival, was seen as a particularly high-risk period for the spread of the virus because the movement of poultry products, and of people, rises sharply. Bird flu outbreaks among poultry have hit in recent weeks in the northern province of Thai Nguyen and in central Quang Binh, authorities have said, but no outbreak among birds had been reported in Hai Duong. "Prevention measures have now been tightened, and the poultry flock in the area has been killed," said Hoang Van Nam, deputy director of the Animal Health Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. "Poultry in nearby communes are being vaccinated and local veterinary officials are taking test samples."

To avoid infection, people should handle poultry with care, wash their hands before and after, cook meat and eggs well, avoid contact with sick birds and promptly report all suspicious cases, said Connor. "It's important people heed these measures because the threat is as serious as it was, it has not gone away," she said. In January 18 bird flu killed a 32-year-old man from Tuyen Quang province northwest of Hanoi. He had suffered severe pneumonia symptoms after reportedly preparing and eating poultry he found dead near his house. The WHO has so far confirmed 360 human cases of H5N1 bird flu worldwide, of whom 226 have died, not including the latest Vietnam fatality, according to WHO figures published online. The virus is mainly an animal disease, but scientists fear it could mutate to easily jump from human to human, sparking a deadly global pandemic.
<SMALL>Source: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Date: 14/2/2008</SMALL>
<SMALL></SMALL>
<SMALL>http://www.tmb.ie/exodus/news.asp?id=78312</STRONG></SMALL>

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02...Vietnam_3.html

Commentary

Third H5N1 Confirmed Case in Northern Vietnam This Week

Recombinomics Commentary 16:16
February 14, 2008

The fifth patient, a 7-year-old from northern Hai Duong province is under treatment at the Central Paediatric Hospital .

The National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases is now treating several other patients having bird flu symptoms while waiting for the H5N1 virus test results from the Central Institute of Epidemiology.

The above comments describe the confirmation of H5N1 in the third patient in northern Vietnam this week (see satellite map). There have been four previously confirmed cases since December, and all four have been fatal.

The current case extends the sudden jump in cases and the additional hospitalized patients suggest this jump may be extended further in the near term.

Earlier cases this week were linked to the recent purchase or slaughter of poultry in association with celebrations of the Tet New Year earlier this month. All of these cases have been in northern Vietnam, raising concerns of widespread distribution of H5N1 infected birds in the region.

These new infections are likely to be the Fujian strain (clade 2.3) and raise concerns of more efficient transmission of H5N1 to humans.


.

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02150803/H5N1_Hai_Duang_Cluster.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=numberdate vAlign=top align=left bgColor=#3a84fd height=16>Friday , Feb 15, 2008, Posted at: 17:17(GMT+7)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=thanh vAlign=top align=left>Another in Northern Viet Nam Found to Contract Bird Flu</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tintop_text vAlign=top align=left>One more patient in Ninh Binh province in northern Viet Nam was found to contract influenza virus H5N1 type A, becoming the fourth person infected by the deadly virus since the beginning of this year in the Southeast Asian nation, reported the national Department of Preventative Health.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=1 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=Image>Plucking chickens for food poses the most risk.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Twenty-seven-year-old Hoang Van Doan was hospitalized at the Bach Mai Hospital in Ha Noi on February 12 with multiple organ failure, pleural effusion and septicemia.
The case of Doan was the fourth since this year. The first three cases all led to fatalities.
Currently Doan has to undergo blood filter and use artificial respiration.
Initial epidemiological investigations revealed the victim plucked and cooked some chickens for consumption before Lunar New Year.
Further tests are being taken to determine the cause, a representative from Bach Mai Hospital told Sai Gon Giai Phong.
Meanwhile, doctors are trying their best to save his life.
Just this week, a 40-year-old man in Hai Duong province, also in the north, died from the same H5N1 type-A. He was thus the 49th person to die of the virus in Viet Nam since bird flu began raging across Asia in late 2003. http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Health/2008/2/61504/
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http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Health/2008/2/61504/

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

http://www.vnanet.vn/TrangChu/VN/tabid/58/itemid/236028/Default.aspx

Appear also disease child 7 year-old , village in increase Lộc , ocean treating in hospital central child , progress health good . courtyard diseases infection and country tropic also mastering and treat some circumstances suspect contract flu A H5N1 while wait central Institute of Epidemic Prevention do test

Th&#234;m một người chết do nhiễm c&#250;m A H5N1
15/02/2008 -- 10:03 PM
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100&#37;" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>H&#224; Nội (TTXVN) - Tối 14/2, bệnh nh&#226;n Ho&#224;ng Văn Đo&#224;n, 27 tuổi, qu&#234; Ninh B&#236;nh, đ&#227; tử vong do c&#250;m A H5N1.

Trước đ&#243; ng&#224;y 5/2 (tức 29 Tết), anh Đo&#224;n trực tiếp giết mổ v&#224; ăn thịt g&#224;. Ng&#224;y 12/2, anh được cấp cứu v&#224;o bệnh viện Bạch Mai.

Đ&#226;y l&#224; bệnh nh&#226;n thứ tư tử vong do c&#250;m A H5N1 ở Việt Nam từ đầu năm đến nay. C&#225;c chuy&#234;n gia y tế đ&#227; b&#224;y tỏ lo ngại về tỷ lệ tử vong cao v&#224; diễn biến phức tạp của vi r&#250;t c&#250;m A H5N1 ở người từ đầu năm 2008 đến nay.

Hiện c&#242;n bệnh nhi 7 tuổi, qu&#234; ở Gia Lộc, Hải Dương đang điều trị tại Bệnh viện Nhi Trung ương, sức khỏe tiến triển tốt. Viện c&#225;c bệnh Truyền nhiễm v&#224; Nhiệt đới Quốc gia cũng đang theo d&#245;i v&#224; điều trị một số trường hợp nghi nhiễm c&#250;m A H5N1 trong khi chờ Viện Vệ sinh dịch tễ Trung ương l&#224;m x&#233;t nghiệm.

Bộ Y tế đ&#227; phối hợp với c&#225;c Bộ, ng&#224;nh c&#243; li&#234;n quan khẩn trương chỉ đạo khử độc m&#244;i trường, cho người d&#226;n v&#249;ng c&#243; nguy cơ cao, c&#243; bệnh nh&#226;n tử vong do c&#250;m A H5N1, uống Taminflu tại Hải Dương, Ninh B&#236;nh./.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://www.wisdom.com.my/webve2/ve2.asp</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Treyfish]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

<TABLE class=lan18 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=hei22 vAlign=bottom height=25>Vietnam reports additional bird flu fatality
</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff height=4></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="50%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="48%">www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-15 21:05:24</TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="26%"> </TD><TD class=hui12 align=middle width="12%"> Print</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="80%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD height=20></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=lt14 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="97%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=lt14>



HANOI, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- A man from Vietnam's northern Ninh Binh province died from bird flu Friday morning, raising the total number of bird flu fatalities in the country since December 2003 to 50, according to a report of Central Vietnam Television.
The 27-year-old man named Hoang Van Doan was admitted to the Bach Mai Hospital in the capital Hanoi on Feb. 12. He slaughtered chickens for meal on Feb. 5.
The Vietnamese Health Ministry on Feb. 13 confirmed a death of a 40-year-old man from northern Hai Duong province, who died on Feb. 13 after four days of treatment in the capital city, was infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1. The man named Do Van Sanslaughtered dead fighting chickens for meal before exhibiting bird flu symptoms on Feb. 2, said the TV report.
Late last month the ministry confirmed that a 32-year-old ethnic man named Tran Van Dong from northern Tuyen Quang province died from bird flu on Jan. 18. He slaughtered and ate dead fowls raised by his family for meal.
In late December 2007, after detecting no human cases of bird flu infections for nearly four months, the ministry confirmed that a four-year-old boy from northern Son La province died from bird flu on Dec. 16, 2007.
To date, Vietnam has reported a total of 104 human cases of bird flu infections, including 50 fatalities, since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003.
Vietnam currently has four localities having poultry being hit by bird flu: northern Thai Nguyen, central Quang Binh province, northern Quang Ninh province and southern Long An province, the Department of Animal Health under the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Thursday. Bird flu killed 685 fowls in a flock in Quang Ninh's Mong Cai town from Feb. 12-13, and 150 ducks in Long An's Ben Luc district on Feb. 9, the department said, noting that their specimens were tested positive to H5N1. Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/15/content_7610969.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02160801/H5N1_Gia_Loc_Cluster.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Commentary

H5N1 Confirmed Cluster in Hai Duang Vietnam Causes Concern

Recombinomics Commentary 16:16
February 15, 2008

Chuc said the man's wife cooked the dead chickens and shared them with a relative, then cremated the three sick birds.

No other members of the man's family have fallen ill, but health authorities were testing them and close neighbors for the virus, Chuc added.

The above comments describe contacts of the index case of a geographic cluster in Hai Duang in northern Vietnam (see satellite map). The index case (40F) was H5N1 confirmed and died on Wednesday. The update from the WHO described the case and noted that "close contacts" were being monitored. They were being treated with Tamiflu, but they had no symptoms. However it is not clear if ?close contacts? extends to the relative described above.

Today a seven year old child from Hai Duang was H5N1 confirmed. The timing and location raise concerns about human to human transmission, or transmission via shared food if the seven year old is a family member of the index case or the relative who received some of the dead chickens.

Today?s media report on the seven year old added that more patients were hospitalized with bird flu symptoms, but lab confirmation had not been completed.

The sudden increase in H5N1 in the region is cause for concern. Two confirmed cases in the same small district in the same week is one cause, as are the additional confirmed and suspect hospitalized cases. Moreover, all confirmed patients, other than the recently confirmed seven year, have died.

In the past, clusters in northern Vietnam have caused concern. The most alarming series was three years ago, when clusters grew as the case fatality rate fell. In the current burst of activity, the number of cases is quickly rising but all outcomes have been fatal.

More information on the relationship of the confirmed seven year old to the index case would be useful, as would updates on the other hospitalized patients and sequence data on these news cases.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02150803/H5N1_Hai_Duang_Cluster.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

bird flu death toll hits 50<!-- noindex --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">Last Updated 15/02/2008, 22:0Vietnam's 7:50
</TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>Select text size: </TD><TD vAlign=top noWrap>
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<!-- endnoindex -->Bird flu has killed a second Vietnamese man this week, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 50.

Health officials say the man aged 27 came from northern Ninh Binh province and had been treated in a hospital in Hanoi since early last week.

They says he slaughtered two chickens on January the 31st and fell ill two days later and then tested positive for the H5-N1 strain of the virus.

Northern Vietnam has been in the grip of a month-long cold snap that experts say aids the spread of flu and other respiratory diseases because immune systems are weakened and people tend to spend more time indoors together. <!-- PRINT_CONTENT_END -->

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2164347.htm

[Treyfish]

Re: Vietnam: Human H5N1 Cases Feb 13+

Bird flu kills one man, infects poultry in Vietnam

Sat 16 Feb 2008, 2:41 GMT

[-] Text [+]

By Ho Binh Minh
HANOI, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Bird flu has killed a second man in Vietnam this week, infected a child and poultry in two provinces and a health official warned more people would fall sick of the virus, the government and state media said on Saturday.
The 27-year-old man died on Thursday night at a Hanoi hospital after he was taken there from the northern province of Ninh Binh on Tuesday with serious pneumonia, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.
On Jan. 31 he slaughtered two sick chickens and fell ill two days later with pneumonia symptoms, the Health Ministry has said. His death is Vietnam's third this year from bird flu.
Doctors also confirmed a 7-year-old child from the northern province of Hai Duong had the H5N1 virus and was being treated at a paediatric hospital in Hanoi, the Vietnam News Agency said without disclosing the gender or details of the infection.
Hai Duong is home to a 40-year-old man who died from bird flu on Tuesday, the 49th fatality of Vietnam's 103 confirmed cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, citing tests performed by Vietnamese health authorities.
Both provinces of Ninh Binh and Hai Duong are not on the government's bird flu watchlist, but health officials said more human infections could emerge as chicken is a popular dish at this time of the year.
"Now it is the start of spring, parties using chicken are numerous," Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Health Ministry's Preventive Medicine Department, said in an interview with the VNExpress e-newspaper (www.vnexpress.net).
"Many patients will be found in the coming days," he said, criticising poor communication as people failed to report dead poultry to the authorities.
Several people suspected of having bird flu were now being treated in Hanoi, the Vietnam News Agency said without elaborating.
The Agriculture Ministry's Animal Health Department also reported cases in the past week at two poultry farms in the northern province of Quang Ninh on the border with China and in the southern province of Long An.
Bird flu killed 855 birds in Mong Cai town and another district in Quang Ninh province on Feb. 12-14, prompting the authorities to slaughter 800 more birds, the department said.
"In Mong Cai town the poultry smuggling originated from China still takes place and it's difficult to control," the department said in its daily report.
Bird flu also killed 150 one-month-old ducklings in Long An province on Feb. 9, it said, bringing to four the number of provinces on the government's bird flu watchlist.
H5N1 remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, possibly killing millions.
Not including the death on Thursday, bird flu has killed 227 people among the 361 known cases. Most of the deaths have been in Indonesia and Vietnam, WHO figures show. (Editing by Jeremy Laurence) http://africa.reuters.com/commoditie...HAN323167.html