Vietnam has two new suspected bird flu deaths - doctor

Vietnam has two new suspected bird flu deaths - doctor

By Nguyen Nhat Lam, Reuters

HANOI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Two people showing symptoms of the bird flu
virus have died in the past week in Vietnam, where the disease has
already killed more than 40 people, a hospital official said on
Saturday.

"It's very, very clear that all the critical symptoms pointed to bird
flu," Dr Nguyen Ngoc Tai, the director of the Vietnam-Cuba Hospital in
Dong Hoi, central Vietnam, told Reuters.

The Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted a report from the hospital in
Quang Binh province as saying the victims, a 14-year-old girl and a
26-year-old man, had eaten duck and a chicken's egg around a week
before they got sick.

The girl was admitted to hospital on Oct. 21 and died on Oct. 23 and
the man died on Oct. 26 within an hour of arriving at the hospital.
Their bodies had been sent home to be buried, Tai said.

He said the victims were not related and from different towns in the
province, which is around 500 km (310 miles) south of the capital
Hanoi.

Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted doctors at the hospital as saying they both
had severe respiratory problems, fever and lung infection -- symptoms
similar to bird flu.

Tai said a third person with symptoms of the disease had been sent to a
better-equipped hospital in Hue City, central Vietnam, for treatment.

"There is another case of a 27-year-old man who is suspected to have
been infected with bird flu but in a milder form," Tai said.

He said his hospital was ill equipped to treat bird flu patients and
called for immediate supplies of the antiviral drug Tamiflu and flu
vaccines to cope with the situation if more bird flu patients emerged.

Most human bird flu infections are due to handling birds sick with the
virus or contact with their droppings. Cooked meat is not a known
source of infection.

The latest H5N1 outbreak first surfaced in Asia in late 2003. Since
then, 62 people have died in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia
and the virus has spread to Europe's eastern border.


10/29/05 05:10 ET


Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar
means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in
content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active
hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

.

Relevant Pages