Bird flu kills Vietnam girl

A 13-year-old girl has died from bird flu in southern Vietnam where tests are under way to check if the virus has also infected a 25-year-old woman from Cambodia who is seriously ill, doctors said yesterday.

The girl's death brought to 11 the death toll in Vietnam from the deadly H5N1 poultry virus in recent weeks.

A doctor at the General Hospital in Kien Giang province bordering Cambodia told Reuters that the 25-year-old woman was brought in on Friday morning with a high fever.

The 13-year-old girl, who had been confirmed by doctors as infected by bird flu, died late on Friday in Ho Chi Minh City's Paediatric Hospital No.1, said a hospital official.

The girl from the southern province of Dong Thap was taken to hospital on January 22, one day after her mother died of bird flu. Officials said the mother was infected because she swam in waters used to dispose of poultry. The death of the girl brought to 43 the number who have died since the virus first erupted in Asia at the end of 2003. Of those 31 were in Vietnam and 12 in Thailand.

The World Health Organisation has said the bird flu virus might already have infected people in countries neighbouring Vietnam such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, but which lack the infrastructure or capacity to conduct necessary surveillance.

Of those infected, 11 have died since December 30 while one has been discharged from a Hanoi hospital after he recovered.