Vietnam has new human bird flu case: paper

A 23-year-old man has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in northern Vietnam, a state-run newspaper reported on Saturday.

The online Lao Dong newspaper (http://www.laodong.com.vn) quoted health officials as saying the man from Dam Ha district in the northern province of Quang Ninh, about 150 km (93 miles) from Hanoi had fallen ill and tests showed he carried the bird flu virus.

The report quoted doctors as saying the man had high fever and severe respiratory problem.

Prior to this case, Vietnam has this year confirmed one case of human infection in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, involving an 8-year-old girl who fell sick after eating duck and chicken raised on her family’s farm. She has recovered.

On Saturday, the agriculture ministry said bird flu had infected poultry in three provinces in the country, Ca Mau and Soc Trang in the south and Nghe An in the central region.

The H5N1 flu remains largely a virus among birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted by humans and spark a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.

HANOI (Reuters)

Print Version
Tell-a-Friend comments powered by Disqus

RELATED ARTICLES:

Sex and violence may not really sell products   GPs and the Fit for Work scheme   Study shows global warming is unlikely to reduce winter deaths   Academies make recommendations for improving public health   As death rates drop, nonfatal diseases and injuries take a bigger toll on health globally   Designing better medical implants   Single low-magnitude electric pulse successfully fights inflammation   Total annual hospital costs could be reduced by rapid candidemia identification   UTMB develops new online tool for nurses   Online health information - keep it simple!   Your privacy online: Health information at serious risk of abuse   Physician guidelines for Googling patients need revisions