Vietnam Avian Flu Death Brings Toll in Asia to 62

Bird flu has killed another person in Vietnam, bringing the regional death toll to 62 since 2003, officials said Thursday.

A 58-year-old Hanoi man was admitted to a hospital Saturday and died the same day, said a doctor who identified herself only as Lien.

Pham Ngoc Dinh, deputy director of the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology, said the man tested positive for the H5 component of the avian influenza virus. More tests are being conducted.

The man, from Soc Son district, ate duck a week before his death. It had been purchased from a market, and no other family members became ill after eating the poultry, said Nguyen Van Loan, director of the district Preventive Medicine Center.

Loan said the man’s house was disinfected and blood samples of those who had been in contact with him were sent for testing. There were no reported bird flu outbreaks among poultry in the district, he said.

The virus has killed or forced the slaughter of millions of farm birds across Asia. It recently reached Russia via migratory birds.

Health officials have warned that avian influenza could mutate and spread easily from person to person. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with sick birds.