Two more persons die of bird flu
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews/Agencies) Two more persons have died of the bird flu. They died on Tuesday Feb. 3, but authorities did not release the news until today.
The victims were a 6 year-old girl and a 24 year-old man, both of whom resulted positive for H5N1 viral infection.
The girl, from the southern province of Dong Nai, died at Ho Chi Minh City's N.1 Children's Hospital, where she checked in for treatment on Jan. 30.
The man, the second victim in the high plains central province of Lam Dong, was trasfered to Ho Chi Minh City's Tropical Disease Medical Center on Monday.
Until now 17 cases of infection have been confirmed throughout the country, 13 of which have died, 2 healed and 2 still being treated (a girl age 8 and woman age 20) in hospitals. There are nearly 12 suspected cases, some of which have died but whom were never tested.
FAO representative, Anton Rychener, said today that recent nasal swabs taken from pigs in Hanoi and surrounding areas tested positive for the virus, while blood analyses still have not been completed.
Just yesterday, the vice director of Hanoi's Institute of Animal Health, Nguyen Ngoc Nhien, said that tests on 179 pigs from the infected southern provinces of Ha Tay and Thai Binh and Haiphong city were sent to the WHO in Hong Kong, resulting negative for the virus.
In recent days, experts said that they feared that pigs could become infected. The "jump" to pigs from chickens can increase the risk of the virus's transmission between humans, and hence a worldwide epidemic. (MR)
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